


Home

by SimplyKorra



Category: The Walking Dead (Telltale Video Game)
Genre: F/F, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-23
Updated: 2019-06-06
Packaged: 2020-01-24 14:10:18
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 21,717
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18573088
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SimplyKorra/pseuds/SimplyKorra
Summary: They protected their home and for now they're as safe as anyone could be during the apocalypse. The only thing Clementine and Violet had to focus on was trying to pick up the pieces. That, and the strange caravan parked outside the safe zone.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Apologies for any errors.

Clementine was in pain.

She wouldn’t outwardly say it, because Clementine tried so hard to be strong for everyone, but Violet knew she was suffering.

How could she not be? She’d lost her leg and the painkillers Ruby had weren’t meant for…that.

So, they sat in Clementine and AJ’s room, waiting for the night to end as if the sun would rise and wash away all their problems.

Not that Violet was complaining – she really couldn’t. In fact, despite seeing Clementine hurting so much, she was somehow happy. The world had taken so much from her, from all of them, but somehow, it’d given her back the one thing that mattered most.

It was when she first saw Clementine, stuffed in a wheelbarrow with poor AJ working so hard to push her, coming up to the school, that Violet realized Clementine was it.

Clementine and her boy were Violet’s whole world.

She nearly fell off the lookout tower just trying to get to them as fast as she could.

“You don’t have to stay here,” Clementine’s voice broke through Violet’s train of thought.

She looked back and saw those big brown eyes looking up at her. Clem was still so pale. “I do though,” Violet smiled. “I told AJ I’d watch over you while he slept.” Clementine looked over at the bed across the room where AJ was sleeping. Violet couldn’t imagine how tired he was. He’d pushed Clem back home and then stayed with her until she woke up.

Somewhere in-between all that he’d cut her leg off and cauterized the wound and just…shit.

A tear streaked down Clementine’s cheek and Violet couldn’t stop herself from reaching out to brush it away. “What can I do?” She asked, wanting so desperately to help. Her hand still lingered on Clementine’s cheek.

Suddenly, Clem reached up and grabbed it – squeezing gently. “Distract me. Talk to me about…anything. I just need to think about something other than my leg.”

“Okay,” Violet nodded, her mind racing to think of  _ anything _ to talk about. Shifting, she scooted up closer to Clementine, still holding her hand. “Okay um…hmm…okay.” She hated that she couldn’t think of anything. “Okay, so did you ever watch the Ninja Turtles?”

Clementine looked confused and shook her head. “I didn’t.”

Violet sighed. “Clem, come on. No chicken nuggets and no Ninja Turtles? Did you live under a rock?”

This made Clementine smile and Violet felt like she’d won some kind of award. “My parents were always trying to get me to watch more educational stuff.”

“The Ninja Turtles were educational!” Clem gave her a look. “Okay maybe not educational, but they were heroes in a half shell!”

Clementine rolled her eyes. “What does that even mean?”

“It means they were awesome and they also started my long running obsession with pizza.”

“What is it with you and junk food?”

Violet scoffed. “ _ Junk _ food? Pizza and chicken nuggets are foods of the goddamn gods. Throw in some mac and cheese and that’s the fastest way to my heart.”

“Funny,” Clem’s voice was strained, Violet could tell she was hurting. “I didn’t have…any of that…and I still found my way in.”

“It’s the apocalypse, my choices are kinda limited.” She teased before kissing Clementine on the cheek. “So are you telling me you didn’t love pizza?”

Clementine shrugged. “It was okay. I’d eat one now if you had it.” Her voice broke as her sentence finished. She was crying, but she had been crying on and off since she’d woken up. “It hurts.” She admitted with the softest whisper.

“I know, Clem.” Violet kissed her forehead and stroked her hair. Trying desperately to soothe her. “Just breathe, okay? Just keep taking slow breaths and squeeze my hand.” Clementine nodded and took a long, shaky breath. When she exhaled, it came out as a sob but she managed to take another.

When she squeezed Violet’s hand, she nearly broke it. Violet fought not to cry out because this wasn’t about her, but shit Clementine was strong. 

Eventually, the wave seemed to pass and Clementine settled down. She still had a few tears threatening to fall and shimmering in the moonlight as it spilled through the boarded up window of Clem and AJ’s room. 

Violet stayed steady and held Clementine’s hand, just hoping she’d find sleep soon. 

\-----------------------------------------

Sunlight stung against Violet’s eyes as she woke, wincing as it shined directly in her face. Of course she’d fall asleep in the perfect place for the sun to find her. She was at an awkward angle, half sitting and half lying against the wall pressed against Clementine’s bed. Her back was stiff and her left leg had fallen asleep where she’d been sitting on it. 

However, none of that mattered when she looked over and saw Clem’s eyes were closed. Her chest rose and fell slowly - she’d made it through the night. Ruby had told them not to worry about that, and Violet knew they were out of the woods for Clem to die from bleeding out or the bite on her leg taking her, but she still couldn’t shake the worry away. 

“She’s okay,” AJ’s voice drew Violet’s attention and she looked up to see him sitting on the dresser under the window. His legs hung over the front, swaying back and forth. His gun in one hand and the clip in the other.

The moment Violet looked at AJ, she was reminded of Tenn. The hurt hit her like a truck. So much had happened and she’d spent so much time worrying about Clementine that she hadn’t even really had time to process that Tenn was actually gone. That she wouldn’t see him the next time she went into the courtyard. 

Deep down, she knew AJ had saved her life on that bridge - but it was still hard. 

“I--I’m gonna go see if Louis is managing okay this morning. You...you find me if she needs anything?” Violet asked as she slowly climbed off the bed - careful not to wake her girlfriend. 

AJ nodded, his shoulders sagging a bit. Of course he could sense her discomfort - Violet was never good at hiding her emotions. 

Guilt riddled Violet as she left their room. 

She just needed some time to think, unfortunately, she wasn’t given much because as soon as she was in the halls, Ruby and Louis passed her in the middle of a very one-sided argument. 

“I’m tellin’ you, Louis, I know they’re in there!” Ruby’s accent was always thicker when she was upset. Louis shook his head and put his arms out in front of himself before swaying back and forth - mimicking a walker as he then pointed in the direction they were going. “There’s walkers in there?” She asked and he nodded as if it were the most obvious thing ever. “But...we ain’t heard em. How come no one’s ever mentioned that to me?” 

“What are you two doing?” 

They both looked at her like they’d just been caught with their hands in the cookie jar. Ruby sighed and sent Louis a quick glare before answering. “There’s a pair of crutches in the old library, I just know it - but Louis keeps writin’ me little notes tellin’ me it’s too dangerous in there.” Violet looked a Louis who, again, made his awful walker impersonation. “Clem needs those crutches, Vi. Otherwise we’ll have to carry her everywhere and ya know how much she’d hate that.” 

Ruby was right, though Violet knew Clementine would hate having to use crutches too. It was one of the many thoughts VIolet had had over the last twenty-four hours - just how much Clem was going to hate not being as strong as possible. 

Any way they could help her maintain some independence was worth it. 

“So...it looks like we’re going to the library.” Violet could hear Louis groan, even without a tongue he still groaned at everything. “You don’t have to come.” She reminded him, to which he just rolled his eyes and stood his ground. She then watched him move to where all the debris was stacked up and grab one of the chairs there. He placed his hands on one of the legs and then his foot against the base. It took a couple of strong pulls, but eventually it broke off and he held it up proudly.

“Chairles?” Ruby asked, her brows furrowed. 

Louis nodded, but also held up two fingers. 

“Chairles two?” Violet asked and earned a wink. “Good, goes well with Texas Two.” Both Ruby and Louis groaned this time. “That’s what we’re calling it!” 

“Do we wanna move all this junk out of the way or just...climb over it?” 

Violet looked to Louis who shrugged. “We’ll just climb for now.” Violet went over first, her foot wobbling on the shaky couch cushion she stepped on. “Is there anything else valuable we might need in here?” 

“Other than books?” Ruby asked, following Violet over. “It might be worth it to look...once we, ya know, clear it out.”

It felt weird to be in these halls. None of them had been here in years - not since Marlon closed them off. Violet couldn’t stop thinking about how easily they all just...listened to him. He told them a part of the school was quarantined and they just went with it. 

Not too different than him telling her Minnie and Sophie had died. They all just went with that too. 

Fucking stupid. 

As she pulled out her cleaver, Violet could only hope that any walkers they might encounter would be unrecognizable. 

It had been so long that Violet couldn’t remember where a lot of the doors in this hallway even led to, but she knew for certain that the double doors at the end were the library. 

There were a few chairs stacked up against it but nothing too heavy - she couldn’t hear any walker sounds just yet. 

Maybe they’d get lucky. 

Because that happened  _ so  _ often

The closer they got to the door, the more and more worried Violet became. God how embarrassing would it be to do all that to protect the school than die in the library trying to find crutches. 

Clementine would never forgive her for that. 

Together, they moved the few chairs out of the way of the way and stood outside the uncovered door. Violet looked over at Louis holding his new chair leg, then to Ruby who didn’t actually have a weapon. 

“I’m the retrieval team, hon. You two do the dirty work.”

Louis rolled his eyes with a soft smile on his face and Violet couldn’t really say anything either. Ruby was the one who’d worked on Clem and her amputated leg when AJ had shown up carrying her in a fucking wheelbarrow. 

Ruby had earned her chance to stay out of the walker fights. 

As soon as Violet opened the door, she could smell it. There were walkers here. The smell, especially when it had been enclosed like this for so long, was nearly enough to take you off your feet. 

“Oh good Jesus Lord,” Ruby said through a gag as Violet pulled her shirt up over her nose and felt tears sting in her eyes. It was absolutely brutal. 

The silence was terrifying - thankfully the windows were mostly uncovered, just looking out the back and into the forest, but gave enough light that they could see. 

There were books  _ everywhere. _ Violet couldn’t even believe this place had that many books when things were normal. Piles and piles of them covered the floor, with shelves and bookcases toppled over along with them. 

“Where are the crutches?” Violet asked as quietly as she could. Ruby came up alongside her and pointed towards the back. Over a sea of books and walkers that were probably buried beneath them. “Of-fucking-course.” 

A soft clap drew both of their eyes back to Louis who was moving towards the near wall to their left. He pointed towards a large shelf that hadn’t fallen and ran all along the wall. 

“What’re you--” Before Ruby could finish, Louis climbed up to the top of the shelf. 

“Louis!” Violet cried, trying not to be loud but wanting Louis to know she was fucking pissed that he’d do something so reckless. 

He stopped, balanced on the top of the bookcase, and pointed across the way. Violet followed his finger and saw the crutches resting against a tipped over desk with a broken computer lying alongside it. 

Violet remembered being banned from using that computer because she downloaded a bunch of her favorite music onto it.

As she watched Louis make his way over to where the crutches were, the sudden sounds of movement stirring behind her grabbed VIolet’s attention. She turned in a flurry, cleaver at the ready as a walker shambled towards her. It was disgusting. Half of it’s jaw had been crushed by something and it’s guts were spilling out from a rotting wound on it’s stomach.

That was where Violet aimed her kick, right from the disgusting guts of his creature that might have once been one of her fellow students here. She couldn’t even tell anymore. Now, it was just a monster - that’s how she had to see it. 

It fell backwards towards Ruby who jumped and scurried towards the exit.

Violet stalked over and drove her boot down onto what was left of it’s face. Unfortunately, that wasn’t enough and it still moved and made the most awful gurgling noise. So Violet hauled up her cleaver and slammed it down as hard as she could. The damn thing must have been nearly rotted because the blade cut right through and went all the way into the floor board. 

“Shit,” she cursed before trying to pull the cleaver out of the floor. Having to suffer through the smell of death as brain fluid leaked out onto the ground. 

Using her foot, Violet kicked the walker away, trying to reveal more of her cleaver so she could see just how deep the damn thing was stuck. 

Of course, it was stupid deep and no matter how hard she pulled, it refused to budge. Just as she was about to kneel down for more leverage, Ruby shouted. “Vi, two more!” 

“Shit!” She looked up as a pair of walkers came towards her. Standing, she kicked the handle of her cleaver in hopes of prying it out, but instead the handle flew off and the square blade remained stuck in the wood. “Fucking useless!” Taking a step back, Violet picked up a shelf from one of the fallen bookcases and smashed it into a walker head. It didn’t kill the thing, but it did make it stumble back into the other, knocking them both off balance. “Ruby, find me something sharp!” Violet threw the shelf at the walkers and started looking for another weapon. All she could find were books, dozens of books scattered all over the floor. She picked up three of them and threw them at them at the walkers, just waiting for Ruby to bring her something. 

A part of her wanted to laugh at the way the books were bouncing off the gruesome faces of these monsters, but then she remembered they were probably people she used to know and realized laughing would be kinda shitty. 

“Here!” Ruby called out and Violet turned just in time to see a fucking sledgehammer coming at her. She reacted just in time to catch it and stop it from smacking her right in the face. It nearly knocked her over

“This isn’t sharp!” 

Ruby winced. “I know! But it’s heavy!”

“No shit,” Violet groaned as she hauled the hammer up and swung it at the approaching walker. The damn thing smashed right through the head of the walker, sending it toppling to the ground, blood bursting everywhere like a balloon filled with red paint. “Whoa,” she was not prepared for that. It was a load to swing, but shit, it did some damage. 

“Louis!” Ruby called and when Violet glanced back, she saw him hopping off the shelf with both crutches in hand. 

As if it were letting them all know it was still there, the last walker let out one of it’s dreadful screeches and Violet began the process of tugging her damn hammer back up again. 

This time when she swung it was just a bit off, the weight of the thing still wrecking her balance. When she hit the walker, it missed the head completely but destroyed it’s shoulder and left arm. 

“Fuck!”

Before she could prepare for another swing, the Walker’s right arm swung and smacked her. Violet stumbled to the ground, her hammer smashing against the wooden floor with at thump. She could hear Ruby scream as Violet fully prepared to be a complete loser and die in this fucking library after all the shit they’d been through.

Suddenly, the walker coming towards her came topping to the ground in front of her, head split open and silent. Looking up, she saw Louis standing over her with Chairles II now dripping red with blood. 

“Shit,” Violet pushed herself up and brushed at her arm where the Walker hit her. “Thanks Lou,” she offered him a smile because he’d totally earned it. Unfortunately, he gave her  _ that _ look - the one that meant he wanted to test her and instead of nodding or accepting her thanks, he held out his weapon and gestured towards it. “No,” Violet said, stubbornly crossing her arms. 

“Huh?” Ruby wondered, clutching the crutches in her arms. 

Violet glared at Louis as intensely as he could and he just kept fucking smirking at her. He shook his weapon again and Violet groaned before bending down to pick up the sledgehammer. When she stood back up, she stared right at Louis’ weapon. “Thank you... _ Chairles two  _ for saving my life.” Louis’ grin grew into a full fledged smile. “There, now let’s get the fuck out of this place.”

“Should we board it back up again?” Ruby asked. 

“I guess not...Clem...likes to read and there’s a lot of books here. We could clean it up and see if there’s any she’d like.” 

“I bet it’d be good for AJ to find some books too.” Ruby added before picking up the first one she found and flipping it over. “Aasmi and I will come here tomorrow and clean up a bit.” Ruby held up the crutches and frowned at them, Violet noticed why immediately. “We’ll need some tape and...dammit. They’re kind of a mess, aren’t they?” 

“We’ll fix them,” Violet said matter-of-factly. “We have to.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for reading, the kudos and kind words - they really meant a lot. 
> 
> I'm having a blast writing these two.

It was dark when Clementine finally came back to the world. She had no idea how long she’d been asleep - the last thing she remembered was making AJ leave the room and go patrol or do anything other than stand watch. She loved his protectiveness but the kid needed to get out of this room. 

Clementine wished she could. 

It wasn’t dark then, but it sure as hell was now. If she had to guess, it was probably just a little past midnight, the moon was high in the sky, it’s light shining through the boarded up windows and coloring the floor. 

Her leg still hurt like hell. The steady pain was a nice reminded that it was, in fact, cut off. She was alive and so thankful for that - for AJ and his bravery, but Clementine couldn’t stop the same three words from repeating in her head over and over again

_ Everything is dangerous _

Lee told her that and he was so right, more so than he probably even knew at the time. Clementine had lived her life prepared for any dangerous moment to potentially consume her. She was always ready, always willing to fight. 

Now, she was a liability. Not just for her own safety, but for everyone around her. 

She  _ was _ thankful to be alive, but she was scared. Somehow, this awful world had grown even scarier. 

Clementine picked up on the sounds of very gentle sobbing coming from somewhere close by.

Looking over, she saw AJ in his bed and checked to make sure it wasn’t him, but he appeared to be fast asleep, face buried in his pillow and even snoring a little. 

If it wasn’t him, then it had to be…

“Violet?” She called out, almost like a thought come to life and a heartbeat later, Violet was sitting up next to her on the floor, wiping at her eyes. 

“Clem, you’re awake,” she gave Clementine a very weak and tired smile. 

Unable to control herself, Clementine reached out and pressed her thumb against Violet’s cheek to brush away her tears. “Why are you crying?” Her throat burned as she asked. She’d strained herself screaming when her foot was being cut off - before she passed out. It had gradually gotten worse over the last few days. 

Violet shrugged. “Lots of shit. You, Tenn, AJ, Louis. You name it, I’m fucking crying over it.” 

“Vi,” Clementine pulled her in and hugged her as best she could. She felt Violet sink into the embrace though, her face tucking into Clementine’s neck. “I’m so sorry about Tenn.” 

“It’s not your fault,” she sniffled and Clementine felt her heart break. “It’s Minnie’s fault - or Lilly’s fault for turning Minnie into that. I don’t even know anymore. We were almost  _ home _ .” 

While Clementine would agree that what happened on that bridge was Minerva’s fault - she’d moved long past being angry about it. Thinking you’re dying and saying your mental goodbyes to everyone you love made it hard to be bitter when you suddenly weren’t dead and  _ could _ go home. 

“Hopefully he’s with both his sisters now...away from this world and happy.” 

Violet sat up and again brushed the tears from her face. “I--I hope so.” Suddenly, Violet’s eyes went wide. “Oh! We found crutches!” 

“Oh…” Clementine tried to match Violet’s excitement, but all the thought of crutches did was remind her of what she was missing. “That’s awesome, Vi. Thank you.” 

“Well, Ruby’s the one who knew where they were and Louis is the one who actually got them.” 

Clementine laughed softly. “So you’re just the one who gets to tell me the good news?” 

“Yeah, and I found a sledgehammer - used it to kill a couple walkers in the library.” 

“Walkers? Inside the school?” 

Violet nodded and Clementine had to fight the urge to jump out of bed. It was a reflex - there were walkers  _ inside _ her home. 

“It’s okay,” Violet chuckled. “We barricaded off parts of the school for a reason. Some of them had bad memories and others had...friends we’d lost and couldn’t put down. Marlon just started blocking places off so we didn’t have to deal with it. He was an asshole but he was good at a few things. He knew the school was too big for us to have full run on. Too many openings and shit. So we downsized and cutting off places where people had died seemed smart.” Violet’s smile grew. “The library has lots of books though. I...I thought if you wanted I could go and get you some.” 

There were things Violet did that sometimes caught Clementine off guard. Most of them involved her just wanting to... _ do _ things for Clementine without any sort of return. It had been so long since she’d been around anyone that simply wanted to make her smile. Everyone left in this world seemed to have an agenda, and Clem knew she fell in that same category sometimes. You had to in order to survive.

Still, every time Violet offered to do something like that, just for her, Clementine felt those protective walls she’d built around her heart crumble. 

“I’d really love that.” She missed reading so much - so much in fact that when she first started living here at the school, she’d sneak out at night and steal the little activity pamphlets from the rack tucked under the stairs to read before bed. 

Clementine was struck with the sudden urge to hold her girlfriend. She noticed Violet was barely on the bed and tried to scoot over - which naturally sent shooting pain into her leg. “Fuck,” she cried, her voice carrying in the quiet of the night. 

“What are you doing?” Violet scolded and Clementine felt tears sting in her eyes at the burning pain that shot up her leg and into her lower back. 

“I...wanted to give you more room.” 

“Clem,” Violet sighed. “Tell me, okay? You  _ can  _ ask for help.” 

“I don’t want to,” she admitted, as if she were admitting it to herself. “Vi, I’m so weak. I can’t…” 

“Stop,” Violet shook her head and glared. “Just fucking stop, Clem. I know what you’re doing. I know what you’re thinking and it’s bullshit. You’re not weak and you’re not a burden. We...we’ll figure this out, okay? We’ll make this work and we’ll get you out there again. It’s only been a couple days.” 

Clementine was too tired to argue and a part of her  _ did _ want to believe Violet, but she knew how dark this world was. It wasn’t going to be forgiving simply because she’d lost a foot. 

No, instead it would probably put everyone she loved in danger. 

“Vi…” she whispered. “Lay with me.” 

Violet stood up. “Here, I’m gonna help you move. Tell me if it hurts too much, okay? Don’t be a stubborn asshole.”

“Like you?” Clem teased, earning an eye roll. 

“Yeah, don’t be me.” 

She felt Violet’s hand slip under her back as the other pressed against her hip. Carefully, Violet pushed and Clementine tried to help as much as she could. It hurt, holy shit it hurt  _ so  _ much, but she bit her tongue and held back from letting out any signs of pain. 

She’d spent years learning how to control pain. 

While it wasn’t much, Clementine moved over just enough for Violet to slip in beside her. When she did, Clementine pulled her close.

“You’re hot,” Violet said. 

“Weird time to hit on me.” 

Violet swatted Clementine in the arm. “No, you ass. You’re  _ hot _ . Your body and your…” Violet reached up and pressed a hand against Clementine’s forehead. “You’re a little feverish.” 

“Well, getting your leg cut off in a barn that used to house walkers, by an axe that was used to kill walkers, isn’t the safest way to save a life.” Clementine felt Violet tense with each word. “Ruby’s been giving me medication to fight off infection. It should be okay.”  

A shiver shot through Clementine’s body when she felt Violet’s finger suddenly tracing over the scar on her forearm. She traced up and down it a couple times, a frown on her face.

“Dog bite.” She said and Violet looked up at her almost shocked. 

“So this is why Rosie scared the shit out of you at first?” Clementine nodded. “Damn.” 

“It probably looks worse because I stitched it in a shed with fishing line.” 

There was a small part of Clementine that liked telling people some of her more fucked up stories, just to see their reactions. “Jesus, Clem.”

“I was eleven.” 

“Okay stop,” Violet laughed and reached up to cover Clementine’s mouth. “If you get any cooler I’m going to start to doubt that I’m good enough for you.” 

Clementine pulled Violet’s hand down and smiled. “I also killed a walker with a rake immediately after.” 

“ _ Stopppppp _ .” Violet groaned. “I don’t know how you managed out there for so long. We lost thirty fucking people just wandering a little bit outside of the school.” 

_ I bet a lot of people died to get you here _ . 

Those words struck so deeply in Clementine’s heart she could hardly breathe. 

“I mean, I had to stay alive so I could find you, right? Had to find you.” 

“Will you stop,” Violet sure didn’t sound like she wanted Clementine to stop. “You’re so fucking cheesy.”

“I like to make you blush.”

“I’m not blushing - fuck you.” She buried her face in Clementine’s neck. “I hope AJ doesn’t wake up cause if he sees us like this my angry loner image is going to be shattered.” 

“Whatever you say, Vi.” Clementine was amazed at how good Violet was at making her forget how shitty things really were. Sometimes, they would have moments like this and Clementine would swear she was back in a normal world. Just a girl in love, cuddling with her girlfriend after school. 

She wondered what her parents might think of Violet. What they might think of her  _ choice _ of Violet. She honestly didn’t know, but she hoped it would be good - they were always such kind people. 

The pain was starting to wear Clementine down. She could only ignore it for so long. She was so tired - she could feel her eyes growing heavier by the second. 

“You sleep,” Violet whispered. “I’ll stay.” 

It was only a short time and the feeling would probably be gone by morning - but right now, Clementine was happy. 

\-------------------

Clementine was  _ not _ happy. 

Seven fuckng days - that’s how long she’d been cooped up in this room. For the last  _ seven _ days she’d laid in bed, only allowed to sit up and even then Violet wouldn’t leave the room. She had to ask for help going to the bathroom, which took both Violet  _ and _ Ruby’s help to get her where she needed to go.

She hated it. She was angry and cranky. The next person that asked her if she was okay was going to catch a right hand in the face. 

The pain wasn’t nearly as bad. She was sleeping better, and less - thank god - but she  _ still _ couldn’t get out of bed on her own or do anything to help. 

She heard them outside her window in the mornings. All of them, doing things, fixing things and trying to make their home feel safe again. They would come to her with questions and maps, asking her for advice. She loved to help, but then they’d leave and she’d still be in her room.

At one point, Aasim got hurt and the  _ only _ reason Clementine knew was because the first aid kit happened to be in her room. Since, you know, she lost her fucking foot, and Ruby had to come and get it. 

All she could get out of Ruby was that Aasim had a cut and he’d be “okay”. Just cut his hand open on a piece of wood. 

That left Clementine more worried than she had been before. Because Aasim was hurt, and she was hurt and Louis was missing a tongue and they were  _ vulnerable _ . 

She wanted desperately to recover and help like she used to - but ‘like she used to’ wasn’t an option anymore. 

Even when the pain went away and the rest of her body was strong enough to get out of bed - she’d still be missing her foot. 

Clementine was grateful to be alive,  _ of course _ she was. She’d told AJ (while embarrassingly crying all over his shirt) how thankful she was for him, but that didn’t take away her fear. 

Her friends...her  _ family _ might all be ready and willing to do anything for her, but the rest of this fucked up world would see a girl with one foot and immediately look at her as prey. 

Clementine felt like a wounded animal in a forest of predators - with a whole herd she was supposed to protect. 

Needless to say, all these thoughts had driven her to the point of frustration that led to her foul mood.

_ Knock Knock _

Clementine watched her door open crack open just a little. Louis leaned his head in with a smile. 

“Hey, Louis,” for as angry as she was today, it was still hard for Clementine to be mad at Louis. It was hard for her to feel anything towards him other than guilt and regret. 

She didn’t regret saving Violet - she just regretted not being fast enough to save them both. 

When he finally stepped inside, she noticed he was holding one arm behind his back, carrying something he didn’t want her to see. In his other hand, he had a piece of paper that he held out to her as if he was afraid she might hit him if her got to close. 

Clementine took the paper and unfolded it. 

His handwriting was awful.

_ Vi’s working in the greenhouse _

_ I’m here to give you these _

When she looked up from the note, he was holding up two crutches. 

They were taped up and looked pretty old and worn, but Clementine could see that someone had put in the time to make sure they were useable - probably Willy. Not to mention that Violet told her she and Louis and Ruby all killed a few walkers to get them for her. 

It wasn’t until Louis’ smile went away and he sat down next to her, that Clementine realized she was crying. 

“No,” she wiped at her eyes and sat up. “No, I’m okay. You guys just...keep doing stuff for me and I suck at handling it.” She’d confused poor Louis because it didn’t even really make sense to her.. “Outside of these walls...everyone is trying to take advantage of you - to use you for their own gain. I’m still kind of adjusting to being in a place with people who…”

She trailed off as he pulled a pencil out of his coat and wrote something down. When he handed it to her, she started crying again. 

_ Love you _

She nodded. “Yeah, people who love me.” 

He winked at her before getting up and extending a hand to help her off the bed. 

Clementine was nervous. She hadn’t stood much on her own outside of holding up her weight after Violet had helped carry her to the bathroom. 

She wanted to try, nervous or not, she needed to feel like she was making some kind of progress. 

With Louis’ help, Clementine pulled herself up and the moment she was off the bed, her hands were on his shoulders trying to find balance. 

Her body was still pretty weak from everything. Turned out, getting bitten and slowly dying really did a number on your overall well being. Just making it to her feet felt like a full day on the road walking. 

But she was determined to do this - determined to make it work. She hopped on one foot when Louis left to grab the crutches. It was scary letting go of him just so she could grab the things. She took the first one and planted it to the ground where her missing foot was. The only time she’d seen crutches was a man she used to see walking around Prescott. 

They fit well enough, almost exactly the right size. Clementine had no idea when they would have had the chance to measure. Probably during one of the days where she slept for eighteen hours. 

Once she took the other crutch, Clementine was suddenly holding herself upright. Louis took a few steps back, not too far away but enough that Clementine was on her own. She felt more balanced but her body was fighting against her. 

She was tired already and that frustrated her to no end. She’d only just stood up. A few days ago she fought off a herd of walkers and a crazy girl on a bridge. 

As he waved her over, she tried to convince her arms and legs to work together to get her there. It was unnatural and hard - her body wanted so desperately to plant her nonexistent left foot into the ground and take a step. 

Instead, she planted the crutches down and swung forward on them. Unfortunately, she swung way too far and went completely off balance. Her lower body far ahead of the crutches. She was going to fall. 

Before she could, Louis was there and helped her back up. She was grateful, but so upset. It was one step. One stupid fucking step and she couldn’t do it. Her body refused to cooperate. She wanted to take the crutches and smash them against the wall. 

A pair of hands grabbed her face and forced her to look forward into Louis’ eyes. He shook his head and smiled that big goofy smile that not even the Delta could take from him, then took two more steps back and waved her towards him. 

_ Try again _

Settling down, Clementine put her one good foot down and tried like hell to tell her body to do exactly what she wanted it to do. She moved the crutches out in front of her, not as far as before, and carefully took a step. Her balance wavered again, but she took a deep breath, held steady and was able to move forward. 

It took three steps and far too much time, but eventually she reached Louis. 

However, when she did, he took two more steps to his right and then moved towards the closet away from her. 

“You jerk.”

He put his hands on his hips, clearly unfazed. 

Turning was harder than she expected. All of this was harder than she expected. 

Eventually, she figured it out and this time when she reached him, he didn’t move away. Instead, he caught her, because her body was so tired just from moving around her own room. 

She wanted to be upset about it, but she’d moved around on her own. It wasn’t much, but it was more than the day before. 

Louis hugged her and Clementine sunk into it. She felt him guide her back to her bed, crutches tucked between them as he carefully sat her down and took them away. She watched him lean them against the closet door before walking back and sitting down next to her. 

Clementine felt a surge of affection for Louis in that moment. She so badly wanted to talk to him - to hear his voice and another one of his dumb jokes. It was strange, like she missed him even though he was sitting right beside her. She could only imagine what that felt like for him. 

Closing her eyes, she rested her head on his shoulder and wrapped her arms around him. 

“I’m sorry, Louis. I’m sorry I couldn’t save you sooner. If I could I--” 

He pulled away from her and Clementine nearly fell over. He stood up and took a few steps away from her. She couldn’t help but wonder if he was mad at her. He had every right to be and if he was, she would let him. 

She would read off every terrible thing he wrote down about her, out loud, just so he could hear it. 

When she saw him grab the piece of paper he’d brought in, she was ready for whatever he might throw at her. She watched him, guilt and heartache coursing through her in waves. 

Before she was ready, he shoved the sheet of paper in front of her and Clementine accepted it. 

_ You saved me _

_ I love you _

Tears sprung in her eyes immediately. She couldn’t possibly be fast enough to stop them and they fell freely down her cheeks. When she looked up, he was kneeling down in front of her. He looked sad, but she felt like she understood why. He  _ was _ sad, he was hurting and struggling to adjust, but he didn’t hate her for it. He didn’t blame her. 

He loved her, as much as she loved him.

Clementine pulled him in for a much needed hug. He was her family. 

“Hey Clem, I -- oh shit.” Over his shoulder, she could see Violet come into the room. Her face dirty from the greenhouse and she was wearing a huge pair of gloves that most certainly didn’t fit her properly. “Sorry, I...is everything okay?” 

Without a word, Louis waved Violet over to join them and Clementine watched the confusion leave her face, replaced with a smile as she took off her gloves and sat them down on the table before walking over and joining the hug. 

Somehow, with one good leg in the middle of the apocalypse, Clementine felt like the luckiest person in the world.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading. I'm really glad you're liking this so far. Any comment I get saying I captured a characters voice is wonderful - that's really what I strive for. I hope I keep up my end of the deal :)

The sun was down by the time Violet and AJ came back from scouting. VIolet could see the scattered fires built throughout the courtyard - she only hoped they’d saved her and AJ some food.

She didn’t expect them to be gone so long, but a run in with a few walkers and then making sure they weren’t heard or followed took longer than she expected. 

Still, she was glad to be home. 

As they approached the gate, Violet looked at AJ who seemed lost in thought. He had been for a while. “You okay, AJ?” 

“They had kids.”

“Yeah, that...might be a good sign.” 

He shrugged. “Maybe, I’ve just never seen anyone  _ younger _ than me before.” 

The thought hadn’t crossed Violet’s mind but it made sense. “Not a lot of people want to risk having kids right now.” She didn’t want to upset him, it was a strange topic to discuss for her - certainly one Clementine could handle much better. “I think we could maybe talk to them though. They...they seemed okay.” 

“They had six guns - that I saw.” He pulled his own gun out and unloaded the clip just a bit before sliding it back in again. As if his hands needed to be doing something while his mind was racing. “That’s three more than we have and Clem and I are the only ones who know how to shoot em’.” 

Violet frowned. “Clem was going to show me.”

“She should,” he said matter-of-factly. “If we go out there again, you need a gun.” 

“Okay,” Violet nodded. She knew better than to argue. “C’mon, I bet Clem’s a mess right now.” 

She opened the gate and stepped in with AJ just a bit in front of her. He still seemed lost in his own head, but by the time Violet shut the gate behind her and made sure it was secure, she was met with a very angry voice calling her name. 

“Violet!” Turning quickly, she saw Clementine barreling towards her like a semi-truck with a flat tire. “You two have been gone for  _ hours _ . I was about to send Willy and Aasim after you!” 

“Sorry,” she watched AJ hug Clementine and couldn’t help but notice that AJ wasn’t getting any of this heat. “They were further out than we thought and we hit a few walkers - then had to make sure we didn’t make too much noise. It was a whole fucking mess of a thing. But we’re okay - AJ is mfff…” 

Her sentence was cut off by Clementine pressing a hard kiss to her lips. The most unexpected and rough kiss of her life. Clementine was  _ not _ holding back - her hand holding the back of Violet’s head. It was intense and all kinds of amazing. 

When Clementine finally pulled away, Violet could barely remember her own damn name. She just stood there, lips still red and eyes closed - only the sound of whistling caught her attention. 

“Let’s not forget we got kids here, alright?” Ruby, of course. 

“Gross,” AJ muttered, clearly annoyed. 

Violet looked at Clementine who was not as caught up in the moment as she was - no, Clementine was giving her a very scary glare. 

“I’m sorry?” 

Clem’s expression softened. “I--I’m just glad you two are okay.” Violet worried her lip between her teeth as she watched Clementine try to kneel down to AJ’s level, checking him over a few times.

He shrugged out of her grip, nearly sending her to the ground. “I’m fine, Clem. We didn’t even get close to them and we handled the walkers.” 

She pushed herself back up, still looking unsteady and nodded. “Okay, I just wanted to make sure.” Her voice was soft and stressed. 

“Violet and I make a pretty good team.” AJ smiled at her and she couldn’t help but do the same. 

“It’s true. Especially against walkers. AJ goes low and I go high. Fuckers didn’t stand a chance.” They high fived for good measure

Clementine smiled, but it never reached her eyes. “Good, what’d you find out?” 

“They have kids,” AJ answered immediately. “Younger than me, Clem.” 

“Really?” She looked at Violet for confirmation. 

“Yeah, two of them. They seemed...normal I guess. There were only eight adults. Five men and three women. Then the two kids. They had some guns but...they didn’t  _ look  _ crazy.” 

Violet could  _ see _ the gears moving in Clementine’s head. She was their leader for a reason. She’d seen the worst of this world and because of that, she knew better than anyone how awful people could be - and how to survive them.

“Okay, let’s eat and we’ll talk about it in later.” 

“Clem,” Violet frowned. It wasn’t like her to hesitate.

“I just need to think, okay? I don’t like that they have guns.” 

“Why wouldn’t they have guns?” AJ asked as the three of them started making their way towards one of the courtyard fires. 

“I know they would I just...we don’t have very many. I’d feel better if we had more of an upper hand.” 

“So what are you thinking?” 

“I don’t -” Clementine sighed as she sat down on one of the benches and leaned her crutches next to her. “I’m just trying to figure out how we should approach it. People aren’t exactly trustworthy these days. If we show up unarmed and ask for peace, who’s to say they won’t freak out and shoot us. Or take us prisoner or fucking torture one of us into giving up the school and then they’ll come in here and destroy everything we’ve fought for.” 

Violet couldn’t remember if she’d ever seen Clementine like this. She was almost...scared. 

“Clem, we’ve dealt with this kinda shit before. We fought off -”

“ _ We _ fought off. It’s not  _ we  _ anymore, Violet. It’s you and AJ and Louis and everyone else except me!” Violet flinched at Clem’s sharp tone and snappy response. She didn’t mean to, but angry Clementine was terrifying. “I’m sorry,” she cast her head down. “More adjusting, I guess. Not being able to control a situation is hard for me.” 

“Hey,” Violet took her hand. “You’re still in control, Clem. You’re still the boss. You tell us what to do and we’ll do it.” 

“I know,” Clementine still wouldn’t look at her. “I trust you guys, I do, but...God the world is so fucked up, Vi. People are awful and if something happened to you or AJ while I’m sitting here on this bench with my one fucking foot I just…everything we ever do will be dangerous.” she could hardly hear the last part. It was like Clementine was saying it to herself.  

Violet hated seeing Clementine like this. She absolutely hated it. She was so damn strong, the strongest person Violet would ever know, she knew that already - but when she let the doubt take over, it could sometimes consume her. Clementine had a lot of demons Violet was just waiting to help her fight through. 

“It’s your call, Clem - but I’m giving you my word...I think we can try this.” 

With a long and heavy sigh, Clementine closed her eyes. “Okay,” she nodded. “Tomorrow morning we’ll...send a team out to meet them. AJ takes his gun, you take one of the bows and your hammer too. If you have any doubts at all, you run, okay? You run as fast as you can back here.” Violet nodded, these were the kinds of things she didn’t argue about. Clementine knew how to survive. “Either Louis or Aasim will go with you, too. Whichever you think.” 

“Okay, Clem,” Violet smiled at her, trying to offer her best one. “We’ll sort out all the details, but let’s go get some food now.” 

Violet helped her to her feet, putting a comforting arm around her waist. Sometimes Clementine could be so hard to read. 

* * *

Violet felt unusually cold when she woke up the next morning. The sun was barely peeking in through the openings of her boarded up window. It was early - but that didn’t explain the cold - not compared to how warm and tangled up she’d been all night.

Rolling over, she reached for Clementine, wanting desperately to steal some of Clem’s natural heat. Instead, she found nothing but emptiness beside her. 

That wasn’t right. Clem was with her last night. After eating and sitting around the fire with everyone, they were the first two to turn in. Clementine was upset and tired and Violet just wanted to be alone with her.

They had a quiet night, but Violet was sure they’d went to bed together. 

Looking to the door, she saw that it was shut, Clem’s crutches no longer resting beside it. 

When had she left?

She looked at the bed on the other side of the room where AJ was fast asleep, his face buried deep in his pillow - arm hanging over the side. 

Violet didn’t waste any time getting out of bed. It was too soon for Clementine to be out on her own. She was learning how to use her crutches more and more every day, but she wouldn’t just leave without saying something. 

Putting on her boots as she scrambled out the door, Violet tripped multiple times before finally getting both feet to slip into place before breaking out in a sprint. 

The sun was insanely bright as she stepped outside, blinding her. She used a hand to block it, scanning the courtyard for any sign of Clementine. She could see Rosie, still sleeping next to one of the benches. On the lookout post was Aasim and Ruby, Aasim laughing at something Ruby said. Other than that, it was quiet - everyone else was still asleep and Clementine was nowhere in sight. 

Violet jogged over to the lookout post and climbed a few rungs up the ladder. “Hey, have you two seen Clem?” 

Ruby leaned over to look down at her. “She’s not inside?” 

“No, I--” embarrassment be damned. “She wasn’t in bed with me this morning.” 

The slightest smirk developed on Ruby’s face and Violet wanted to throw herself off a fucking cliff. “She didn’t come out through this gate, hon. I’m sorry. Did you check with AJ?”

“He’s still asleep. She’s not fucking here.”

“It’s a big school, Vi. She can’t have gotten far.” Aasim was now looking down over the lookout as well. Violet still hanging off the ladder, trying to see as much of the courtyard as she could.    
“Where would she even have gone?” 

Violet was getting frustrated. “If I fucking knew that, I wouldn’t be asking.” She looked up just in time to see Aasim roll his eyes. “Is anyone out hunting or fishing? Anyone out at all she might have gone with?” 

“Don’t think so. I’m going hunting with Louis in about an hour and I don’t think anything was set up before that. You’re sure as shit not gonna get Willy or Omar up that early.” 

“God dammit.” Violet growled before jumping off the ladder and racing back to the school. Clementine had to be inside somewhere. Maybe she’d gone to the library to look for books. Or had fallen down somewhere and was trying to get up - or so mad that she’d fallen she was sitting on the floor somewhere upset that she couldn’t get up. A thousand thoughts ran through Violet’s head and with each one that passed, the scenarios grew worse and worse. 

Once she was back inside, she made her way down the hallway towards the library. Unfortunately, all she found was that the things they’d used to block it off were all still in place. No way Clementine would have gotten over them and she hadn’t moved anything out of the way to get by. 

She wasn’t fucking here either. 

“Clementine! What the shit!” Violet cried out into the empty walls and heard her own voice echo back to her. 

“Violet?” She turned, startled, and found AJ standing behind her. He looked tired, like he’d just opened his eyes, and was wearing a deep frown. “Where’s Clem?” 

“I-I’m not sure, buddy. She wasn’t there when I woke up.” 

“That’s weird,” AJ said, suddenly more awake and looking outside the window beside them. “I was gonna ask her where my gun was.” 

Violet felt her stomach drop. “Your gun?”

“Yeah, it wasn’t by my bed this morning. I know I put it there.” 

“Shit!” Violet wasn’t sure she’d ever felt this many emotions course through her so quickly. Anger, worry, frustration, fear - only Clementine could do this to her. “She went to the fucking caravan.” Violet moved past AJ and ran back outside.

“What?” AJ said, racing being her to catch up. 

“She just  _ had  _ to see them for herself! She’s so fucking stubborn I swear to God!”

“Easy, “Violet nearly knocked Ruby over on her charge out of the school back to the courtyard. “Did you find her?” 

“Do you fucking see her?” Violet’s anger was shooting out in every direction. 

Ruby wasn’t about to take that though. “Calm the fuck down, where is she?” 

“She went out to the woods to find that goddamn caravan!” Violet wanted to pull her hair out. 

“She  _ what?! _ ” 

Violet was already walking towards the gate. “Wake up Louis and the others, tell them to watch things here. I’m going after her.”

“Me too!” AJ said and Violet could tell she would never be able to tell him otherwise. 

“O-okay, I will,” Ruby sounded as nervous as VIolet felt. “Hurry, go!” 

Violet didn’t even have a weapon, let alone a plan. She just ran, with AJ right on her heels.


	4. Chapter 4

Clementine loved sunrises. 

When she was on the road, they were one of the few things she looked forward too. Sleep was always hit or miss. For the longest time, every night felt like a different kind of hell. 

She’d slept in ditches, up against trees, in abandoned cars and on her darkest days, she’d sleep in the middle of an abandoned street. Almost as if she was daring the world to take her away. 

Nights back then could feel endless - but the mornings always brought her back. The sunrise was calming, a chance to try again. To keep moving forward - even when the world around her kept screaming at her to give up. 

Today was no different. She sat on the ground leaning against a tree, staring out through the forest towards the skyline - her crutches haphazardly lying on the ground beside her. 

Her skin prickled, it was chilly this morning. More than it had been recently - a breeze drifting in from the river. It was probably going to storm today. 

Someone would find her eventually, good or bad. 

It was reckless and she knew it. Coming out here on her own like this was foolish for someone who’d been around as long as she had. On crutches with only three bullets in a gun that didn’t even belong to her. Reckless might not even be the best word. It was just stupid. 

But she couldn’t sit back and wait. She wasn’t strong enough to let other people do things these kinds of things. Too often in the beginning, she let the world around her dictate every step she took. Living like that cost a lot of people their lives. People she loved. People she missed every single day. 

The older Clementine became, the more and more she put the responsibility on herself to take action - to protect. If someone mattered to her, she’d fight for them. If someone was a threat to that, she’d kill them. 

With each passing tragedy, the ability to do those things became easier. 

Of course, now that she had things that  _ truly _ mattered. A place that felt like a real home and a real family, she was no longer strong enough to protect them. 

It made her feel ungrateful - because she  _ wanted _ to be here. She wanted to be alive and she was thankful every day for AJ and his courage to make that choice. She just wished she could enjoy it, instead of spending all her time being afraid. She hated being afraid - that’s why she taught herself how to fight and kill and survive. 

“No fucking way,” 

Clementine tensed at the voice suddenly to her right. She swore she recognized it, but she was so exhausted from hobbling all the way out here, and the stress of everything that she was certainly imagining it. 

When she looked up, she was met with a very bearded and confused Javier Garcia staring down at her, gun in hand. 

He looked thicker, no doubt fighting just as much as she had been the last few years. A bit older and tired - his hair and beard were bushier, but it suited him. Clementine still thought that her fucked up mind was just playing tricks on her. 

“You’re alive?” He spoke again and Clementine realized she was just  _ staring  _ at him. 

“How are you here?” She said finally and he laughed. 

“I could ask you the same thing.” He lowered his gun and knelt down in front of her. “We knew there were people around here, we’ve seen them watching us from the woods but...I never would have thought it was you.” 

Clementine smiled. “It wasn’t me. If it was, you wouldn’t have known I was there.” 

She loved Violet, but she was so damn heavy footed. 

“Fair point,” Javi’s eyes moved slowly down to her legs and Clementine felt obligated to move her stump a little. “Holy shit,” he frowned at what he saw. “Your uh...your foot is gone.” 

“Observant as ever,” she’d missed him more than she thought. “Your face is missing.”

He reached up and ran a hand over his beard. “Most razors left in the wild have been turned into weapons.” 

Clementine grabbed at her hair and nodded. “Scissors too.” 

“Did you find AJ?” He asked and Clementine felt her heart swell. 

“I did,” she was almost certain her smile beat her to the answer. “He’s probably headed to me right now, I’m gonna be in big trouble.” 

Javi looked out into the forest and then back to Clementine. “So you live around here?” She bit her bottom lip and answered him with silence. She knew him, she’d missed him - but this was her  _ home _ . “I get it,” he put his hands up in surrender. “Can you at least tell me why you’re out here? On the ground and sitting up against a tree by yourself?” 

Clementine pointed towards the skyline. “Sunrise.” Javi laughed again and took a seat next to her. Compared to the last time she ran into someone from her past, this was going a lot better. “I heard you had people with you.” Javi nodded, not giving up more information than was asked. Everyone left was like that now. “Kate and Gabe are they…”

He smiled. “Still here, Gabe is going to shit himself when he sees you.” 

“Right,” she wasn’t entirely sure how to react to that. At the time, Clementine felt... _ something _ for Gabe - or at least the idea of Gabe. The idea of having someone like that in her life. Except now she had Violet who was kind of everything to her. “I’m glad they’re okay.” Clementine looked over at him, still waiting to wake up in her own bed and have this all be a dream. “I was told there were...children in your group.” She saw the side of his mouth curl up into a smile. 

“Yep,” 

“Are they--”

“They are.” He was practically beaming. “Word of advice, don’t get pregnant during the apocalypse. It was hell for Kate.” 

Clementine was suddenly flooded with images of Rebecca and the sounds of her pain. The look in her eyes when she turned and how empty they were after Clementine put her down. 

_ Fuck _ . 

“Not planning on it, but they did okay?” 

“They did, Kate’s tough as hell and between me and Gabe we did what we could.”

“Two kids?” 

He laughed. “Twins, of course. Why bring one kid into a world like this when you can bring two.” 

“You always did like to make things harder on yourself.”  

Clementine still wasn’t sure what to think. So much anxiety over these people in the caravan seemed to disappear the moment Javi showed up. She  _ knew _ him, she  _ trusted _ him. 

Yes, people changed - Lilly showed her that, Kenny had years before her. But Javi was so good to her and she seemed to connect with him so quickly years ago, she was hopeful that hadn’t meant nothing. 

Of course, he hadn’t met the rest of her people yet and she hadn’t met the rest of his. 

“Richmond fell?” 

His expression faltered, eyes cast down with a familiar sadness. “Probably, we left before things got real bad. Remnants of the New Frontier and other people coming for what we had - it was a fucking disaster. We had to travel a long way just to escape it.”

Clementine knew that feeling all to well. 

“So...what happened to you?” He asked and when she looked at him he was gesturing to her foot. 

“I got bit,” she still felt a little shame every time she said it. Like she’d let down everyone from before who fought to protect her. “AJ cut it off.” 

“Damn.”

Clementine could only nod. 

That was when the bushes around them started to rustle. The sound of footsteps nearby drawing their attention. On instinct, Javi and Clementine both reached for their guns, aiming them towards the approaching noise. 

When Violet suddenly appeared out of the mass of trees and forest, standing in front of them with angry tears in her eyes and her hands up in surrender, Clementine knew she’d fucked up. She put her gun down immediately, just as AJ came racing up as well. 

“Clem!” AJ ran to her, not caring that Javi was there or had his gun out. She put her arms around him, glancing at Javier as he lowered his weapon. “You stole my gun!” He looked into her eyes with disappointment and she felt even worse. 

“Sorry, kiddo. I was going to bring it back.” 

“You really did find him.” Javier made his presence known again and AJ cautiously drew away from Clementine. “Oh, right, I’m Javier - people just...call me Javi.” He held out his hand and AJ looked at it for a moment before looking to Clementine. 

“It’s okay, he’s...I know him. I met him a few years ago while I was looking for you.” 

AJ’s brow furrowed. “When you were in Richmond?” 

“Yep, he helped me find you.” 

“Oh…” she watched as he hesitantly shook Javi’s hand. “Hello,” he spoke carefully. Clementine couldn’t tell if he was shy or untrusting. 

It was nice seeing two people she cared about meeting for the first time. It was so unexpected to see Javier, but she was relieved to know he was okay. He was a good person, she knew that from the first night she spent with him. Locked up in a cell together in Prescott.

“It’s good to meet you, AJ. Clementine did a lot to get back to you.” 

Not even Javi knew everything Clementine went through for that boy.

“She still does a lot,” AJ said and Clementine felt her heart swell with pride. Though she couldn’t help but wonder if she’d still be able to do all those things for him now. 

The nice moment was quickly forgotten when Javier’s gaze shifted up and Clementine followed to find a still very angry Violet standing back and watching them. She was holding Clementine’s crutches and genuinely looked like she was trying to figure out which one of them she wanted to hit first. 

“Violet, I--”

“Javi!” 

Clementine recognized the voice immediately and grimaced. AJ and Violet both tensed. “Shit,” she sighed and turned just in time to see Gabe step out from behind a tree. He’d grown up a lot, which wasn’t surprising. As tall as Javier but still pretty skinny. He wasn’t wearing the beanie she remember and his wild hair was all over the place. 

He looked like he’d just woken up. 

“Found our stalkers,” Javi stood up but Gabe seemed to have forgotten he was there at all. 

“Cl-Clementine?” He stammered and fumbled the knife he was holding. “I...what...you…”

“Hey Gabe.” Before she could say another word, Gabe rushed over and knelt down beside her. 

She saw Violet take a step towards them but stop when she realized he wasn’t attacking Clementine but hugging her. 

Even as she hugged Gabe back, she kept her eyes on Violet. The same Violet, who was still holding her crutches and still looked like she might start hitting people with them. 

“I can’t believe you’re alive! I mean I can because you were always a badass, but...you’re  _ here _ !” 

Clementine smiled, she was honestly glad to see that he was okay. That all of them were. The Garcia family came to her at a time when she  _ desperately _ needed people. A lot like…

“Javi, Gabe...this...this is Violet,” she looked up at Vi who, now that the attention was on her, suddenly went shy. “My girlfriend.” 

Gabe’s jaw fell open as he looked up at Violet with eyes wide like saucers “You’re...you and-”

“Gabe,” Javi said, gesturing that Gabe should probably not finish that thought. 

Which Clementine would agree because Violet looked incredibly uncomfortable. “Uh...hey…” Violet cleared her throat. “I’m sure you are all great, but Clem we have to get back. I ran out here to find you and everyone else is probably freaking the fuck out wondering where we are or if we’re dead.” 

Violet wouldn’t look at her. She’d fucked up really bad. “Okay,” she held out her hands and Violet came over to help her up. 

However, Gabe, with his amazingly bad sense of timing, decided to help Clementine up himself. “Holy shit, you’re foot is gone!” 

“Yep,” Clementine took the crutches, trying to make Violet look at her. “Not quite the badass I used to be.” 

“She’s still a badass,” AJ said and Gabe finally noticed him. 

“You found AJ!” He said, kneeling down to meet AJ’s level. “I knew she would. You’re even cooler than Clementine described you!” 

This made AJ smile. “Of course I am,” he boasted with his chin lifted proudly. “What’s your name?” 

Gabe looked at Clementine with his brows up and then back to AJ. “I’m Gabriel. She never mentioned me?” Clementine couldn’t tell if he was being serious or not. 

Of course, AJ was quick to make everything more awkward. “Nope.” 

“Clem,” Violet spoke a little sharper and she knew she had to wrap this up. 

“Right, uh...listen...Javi I have to get back but...now that I know it’s you guys out here I was wondering if you might want to talk about helping each other. If you have stuff we might need or vice versa.”  

He nodded. “That’s probably a good idea. I’ll talk to the others and we can meet here tomorrow. Same spot?”

Clementine looked to Violet who was staring at the ground. 

“Yeah, that works, we’ll be here.” She couldn’t help herself from smiling. “It really is good to see you both.” 

“You too, Clem,” Javi said and Gabe showed his agreement by hugging her again. 

That was when Violet turned around and started walking away. 

“I-I should probably go,” she said and Gabe pulled away. “See you guys later,” she waved and turned to follow Violet with AJ in tow. 

\-----------------------------------

Clementine knew she was in trouble. 

Sitting on her bed, all by herself, she felt like she was seven years old again. 

Except she wasn’t in trouble with her mom for eating on the furniture when she’d been told not to, and it wasn’t her mother who was mad at her. 

No, this time it was her girlfriend and she was in trouble because she’d snuck out of the school and limped off into the woods without telling anyone. 

About halfway there Clementine realized she had messed up. Her body started to wear down, her arms were sore and her leg was throbbing. She wasn’t ready, she probably wouldn’t be ready for a trip like that anytime soon - but she couldn’t go back. She had to know. 

She’d gotten incredibly lucky that it was Javier. If it had been a stranger, someone looking to kill her or worse, it would have been hard to defend herself. 

The door to her room opened and Violet come in with a couple of books tucked under her arm. She also had a sheet of paper in her hand. Since coming back, Violet hadn’t said a single word to her that wasn’t an order of some kind. 

Sit. 

Rest. 

Ask for help if you need something. 

So she did exactly that. She sat, she rested and she waited. 

Now that Violet was here, Clementine felt the overwhelming urge to fix the mess she’d made. 

“I’m sorry, Vi. I just-” 

“Aasim and Ruby put together a list of things we might need from the caravan people if they have them and Willy added what we would be willing to trade.” Violet handed over the list and Clementine hesitantly reached out.

She didn’t really care what was on the list, she just wanted Violet to  _ look at her _ . 

Instead of grabbing the list, she wrapped her fingers around Violet’s wrist and squeezed gently. “Vi.”

Violet sighed and shut her eyes tightly. “You’re so fucking frustrating sometimes, Clem.” 

“I know, I’m so sorry.” 

“It’s like you don’t get it,” Violet pulled her hand away and tossed the books she was holding onto AJ’s bed. “If something happened to you, do you understand what that would do to us?” 

Clementine felt her eyes burning, she did not want to cry. She was so tired of crying. “I just wanted to help. I want to pull my weight and…”

“Is that what you think?” Violet cut her off before kneeling down in front of her. “Listen to me. You saved us, Clem. More times than we’ll ever be able to repay you for. You’re our leader, you’ve been our protector. Jesus, Clem you’re the only reason we’re not all working as forced fucking soldiers for those psycho shits in the Delta.” 

“And now I can barely walk. What good am I?” She felt her chest tightened. So many things hurt. Her body, her pride, her heart, they all felt like they were falling apart. 

Violet reached up and used her thumb to dust away the tear Clementine didn’t know was there. The touch alone was so comforting and warm, She wanted to lose herself in the feeling and pretend nothing else existed. 

“You did all of that for us, but that’s not why we keep you here. You’re here because we care about you. You and AJ...this is your home. You’re our family. I don’t give a shit if you need me to carry you around this entire fucking school - I’d do it. When you ask me to get up in the middle of the night and help you go to the bathroom, I fucking do it. I do it because,” Violet had tears brimming in her own eyes now and Clementine was completely gone, crying and lip quivering like a baby. “Because I love you, Clem. I don’t care if the world is fucking nightmare and falling in love is dangerous. I don’t care if it’s too soon and I don’t give a shit what anyone else thinks. You are fucking it, okay. You’re all I’ve got.” 

Clementine tried to compose herself enough to actually say something. She did understand. She’d had that kind of person in her life before and lost it and knew how much it hurt. 

The truth was, it was hard to imagine herself ever being that person for someone. Not after Lee. Not after all the good people that had died because of her - all the blood on her hands. 

“I love you too,” she wasn’t sure if she’d ever meant anything more than those four words. “I’m sorry, Violet. I’m so so sorry.” 

“Shush,” Violet soothed her, bringing Clementine in for a soft, tear soaked kiss before hugging her. “I know it sucks but you’ll get stronger and I know Willy’s been looking into better ways to help you get around. We’ll be okay, Clem. You’re too tough.” 

“I am tough,” Clementine made Violet laugh, which felt like a huge victory. Vulnerability like this was something she’d only ever show Violet. She was, despite everything, still the leader here and she had to be strong. Even if she was falling apart on the inside. “I  _ do _ love you.” 

Violet drew back a bit, just enough to look into Clementine’s eyes. “I love you too, you dumbass.” She kissed her, soft and warm. Kissing Violet was like actual real life magic. The kind that made Clementine almost believe walkers were a good thing because they brought the two of them together. 

Then suddenly the kiss ended and Violet flicked her in the forehead. “Ow!” Clementine recoiled. “What the--” 

“Don’t ever pull that shit again, you understand me?” 

Clementine rubbed the sore spot on her head and pouted. “I do, I don’t want you to  _ assault _ me like that again.” 

Violet rolled her eyes. “Tough my ass.” Violet stood up and again handed Clementine the list. “Look it over, see if you can think of anything else. I’ll go see where everyone is on getting ready.” 

“Okay,” Clementine held the list in her lap and watched Violet go to AJ’s bed and pick up the books she’d thrown. 

  
“Here, I uh...I got you these from the library.” She handed over two books, big and filled with stories. It had been years since Clementine had found a book - or had time to read one. “And when I get back we’re talking about this  _ Gabe _ .”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So yeah, I have been kinda nervous about this chapter for a while, mostly because it might seem a little out of nowhere or maybe too convenient that Javi and his people would be in the caravan, but the truth is that it's just wish fulfillment for me. I always enjoyed his character and wanted to write these interactions. So hopefully I did it well and it didn't come across too misplaced. 
> 
> Thank you for all the support so far with this story. I don't expect it to be too long, but I already have an idea for another one to follow cause Clem and Violet are too much fun to write.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this chapter is...nerve wracking. It's sudden and impactful and I wrote it that way because I've always kinda felt like that's how this world would be. There would be no slow build or signs of something going wrong - it would just happen and you'd never be ready for it. 
> 
> Anyway, I hope it's okay. I love writing heavier/emotional stuff and I visualized this one a lot in my head as I wrote it and hope that comes across. 
> 
> This story doesn't have much left. It never really had a solid plot, just me wanting to dip my toes in the water and write these characters. If there's interest, I have other ideas for Clem and Violet in future stories :)
> 
> Thank you so much for all the feedback. It makes writing so much easier.

Clementine had her hair down. 

That was all Violet could think about. Even as she tried like hell to listen to what Willy was saying. Something about how she needed to angle the boards across the window, it wasn’t registering, she could only think about Clementine and her curly hair bouncing around outside as she played with Rosie. It was so big and fluffy and adorable.

How in the hell had Violet gotten so lucky?

“Violet!” 

“Yeah,” she spoke before remembering she was holding nails in her mouth to use and they all fell onto the floor. “Shit,” she sighed and put the board down she was holding. 

“You’re making this way harder than it needs to be, Vi.” Willy handed her the board and the nail, all while glaring at her. 

“I’m sorry, okay! Christ, I’m not a carpenter!” 

He rolled his eyes. “Yeah, because you’ve never boarded up a window before.” She fucking despised sarcasm...well...from other people. “If you want, I can go out there and tell her to leave.” 

“What?” 

“Clementine, that’s who you keep staring at. I mean, she’s not really doing anything so I could go out there and tell her to get to work.” 

Violet couldn’t stop herself from laughing. “Sure, Will, you go out there and tell Clementine what to do. I fucking dare you.” 

She swore the color drained from his face. “She...she’s fine. This is on you. Now board up that window!” He tried to order her, to act like the foreman he wanted to be. Violet rolled her eyes and went back to work.

This time, she managed to actually put a nail into the board and start hammering. Clementine was still out there, but Violet could control herself a little. It was just so damn rare to see Clem with her hair down. 

It had already taken time to get used to Clementine without her hat, now this, it was torture because all Violet wanted to do was run out there and put her hands in that damn hair. 

She watched, while still working, as Clementine got up from the ground with a little help from the bench nearby and took a seat. Her stump was still a shock sometimes because it was so hard to imagine Clementine being bitten. There were times when things were falling apart that Clementine almost seemed invincible, not just to her, but to the others as well. She’d shown up, in a wrecked car with a five year old at her side, and suddenly became their protector. 

Then she was bitten and had her leg taken and lost so much more on that day. Violet had spent a lot of nights since then trying to remind Clementine of how wonderful and important she was. 

“Hey, Willy?”

“Yeah,” he mumbled, nails between his teeth. 

“You given any more thought to that thing I mentioned...about making a new foot for Clementine?” 

He nodded while hammering another nail into the board. “You and AJ both.”

“AJ?” 

“He asked me if we could do it. If there was a book about making new feet. I’ve been trying to come up with something.” He shrugged. “Could use some measurements - so I know what I’m working with.”

Violet stopped pounding a nail and looked at him curiously. “Measurements?” 

“Yeah, like how long from her stump to the ground. How wide her good foot is. I love this kind of stuff, but usually I just kinda make it all up, you know? Just have fun. For Clem though, I’d like to do it good.” 

She wasn’t the only one here that loved Clementine. “‘I’ll see what I can do.” 

There was a sudden hustle outside the window that caught Violet’s attention. She saw Clementine get up, grab her crutches and rushing towards the gate where Louis and Omar were. 

Violet looked at Willy who seemed to have noticed as well. “Go, I’ll finish this.” 

With a hasty nod, she pulled out her knife (because apparently a sledgehammer as a primary weapon wasn’t the most logical choice) and raced outside. 

It didn’t take long for Violet to catch up to Clementine, who slowed as they reached the fence. “What’s going on?” Clementine seemed startled by Violet’s sudden presence. 

“Walkers, just a few but AJ says he heard a gunshot.” 

“They’re over there,” AJ pointed to his left and Violet moved to the gate where Louis was standing. She spotted three walkers shambling along the treeline in their direction “The gunshot came from the other side though.” VIolet looked back to Clementine for instruction.

“I know,” Clem sighed. “I just don’t want to send anyone out there if someone is shooting off guns like that.”

“It’d have to be someone from that caravan right? Javier and his people?” 

Clementine frowned. “Javi’s not stupid enough to let anyone shoot guns like that. At least I don’t think so.” 

“What about Gabe?” Violet couldn’t stop herself. “You said he was kinda…”

“He  _ is _ kinda…”

A tapping of wood against metal drew their attention and they saw Louis banging his chair leg against the gate. 

“Right, you and Louis go get them. AJ, You cover them with your gun. Only shoot if you absolutely have to.” 

At AJ’s nod, Violet followed Louis out as sounds of walker groans drew closer and closer. She readied her knife, still not completely comfortable with it yet and tried to remember how she’d seen Clementine do this before.  

She sent a kick straight to the walker’s knee, but unlike when Clementine did it, the fucking thing fell forward and smacked right into her. She jumped back, stumbling and struggling to maintain her balance - her knuckles scraping along the dirt and slicing open. 

“Fucking shit,” she cursed, ignoring the others asking if she was okay. With a quick glance over at Louis, she saw him pulling Chairles out of a finished off walker before refocusing on her own. 

The one that had nearly knocked her over was on the ground, crawling and screeching at her. Violet was quick to send the knife downward and into its head. She was pleasantly surprised at how quickly the blade came free. She was used to her cleaver, which usually stuck and required more effort. 

Knife dripping with blood, Violet charged towards the last of the walkers shambling towards them and pulled back for a big swing. She threw a lot of her weight into it and drove the knife through the walker’s forehead and sent them both to the ground. 

“Two more!” Someone shouted, it sounded like AJ. Violet planted her hands in the dirt and saw blood coming out of the cut on her knuckle. She pushed herself up to her feet and picked up her knife. Louis rushed over to take the first swing, but before he could, another gunshot rang through the air and Violet saw the head of the walker he was going bust open with blood pouring from the side. 

She immediately looked to AJ, waiting to hear Clementine scolding him for firing a shot - but he didn’t even have his gun drawn from the lookout point. 

A moment later, the bushes rustled and that boy stepped out. 

Gabe. 

He was holding his neck with one hand and clutching a gun with the other. He stumbled with each step he took, barely able to hold himself up.

“Gabe!” Clementine shouted and Violet heard the gate open. She rose to her feet in a hurry and sprinted to intercept Clementine charging towards him. 

“Clem,” she slid in front of her, putting both hands on Clementine’s shoulders, stopping her. “What are you--”

“He’s hurt!” Clementine tried to shove Violet aside, but she lost her balance and didn’t have nearly enough force to do anything. “ _ Move _ , Violet!” 

“No,” that came from Gabe. “Clem, it’s okay.” Violet looked over her shoulder just in time to see Gabe fall to his knees. “Fuck,” he laughed, almost angrily, at himself. “So fucking stupid.” 

Clementine wasn’t pushing against Violet anymore and when she looked back, Clem had tears in her eyes. “Gabe,” she whispered and Violet realized there was no longer a threat here with this boy she didn’t know. “No,” Clementine moved over towards him and nearly fell over trying to sit down next to him. 

When she did, he slumped down into her lap. “I didn’t hear them coming,” he winced, still holding his neck. There was blood seeping out between his fingers. 

Nobody else here knew this boy, but Clementine did and Violet’s heart broke seeing Clementine cry again. She’d cried too much lately. “Where’s Javi?” 

“Back at the caravan. I-I wanted to hunt on my own. I didn’t -” he let out a horrible, phlegmy cough. “We got into a fight, it was dumb and I came out alone. They don’t know I’m here.” 

“God dammit, Gabe,” Clementine hugged him tighter. “Why are you…” she grit her teeth and never finished her sentence. 

“He always told me... it could end just like that. You’ll never wake up knowing that’s the last day you’ll have.” Another cough and Violet found herself kneeling along with them. She was a few feet away, but she couldn’t bear to stand. They were all going to watch this kid die. “I’m glad you’re still here.” He moved his bloody hand away from his wound and Clementine took a hold of it. 

They’d had something before - whether it mattered much or not, it was something and Violet watched them and waited to feel jealous. 

The feeling never came, just sadness that Clementine was about to lose someone else. 

“I’m here,” Clementine brushed her thumb over his cheek. “I’m here, it’s okay.” 

“I don’t wanna turn,” he whispered, barely enough that Violet could hear him. 

Clementine took a shaky breath. “I know,” her voice broke. “I won’t let you.” 

Gabe let out a sharp laugh that made Violet jump. “I can’t believe this is how I die.” He was still laughing. “All the shit and I get bit by one fucking muerto in the fucking woods.” His laughter soon died out, replaced with a hiss of pain. “Shit, it fucking hurts.”

Clementine nodded. “It goes away. The pain...you just kind of...go numb.” Hearing Clementine describe the feeling only served to remind Violet that Clementine had nearly died just like this. 

“Can we cut it off?!” That was AJ, now suddenly at the opened gate. “I did it for you, maybe we can--”  

“We can’t, AJ.” Clementine didn’t look back, just focused on Gabe. She was the most compassionate person Violet had ever and probably would ever meet. 

She was right. The bite was in no place to be removed, trying to cut would just kill him more painfully. 

“Here,” he offered his gun to Clementine and she stared at it.

He smiled at her while tears poured down her face before she finally took the gun. Violet had to fight every urge in her body to run over and do this for Clementine, so she wouldn’t have anymore blood on her hands - but she knew she couldn’t. 

Clem was the kind of person who  _ had _ to do these kinds of things on her own. She was the one who had to carry it. If she didn’t, she’d hate herself even more. 

She drew the hammer back, the sound of the bullet loading into the chamber so loud against the quiet of the forest. 

“Mariana probably needed some company,” Clementine said and Gabe closed his eyes closed. 

“I...hope so.” He was getting paler by the second, Clementine was covered in blood. “Tell Javi I’m sorry.” 

“I will.” Clementine leaned down and pressed her lips to his forehead, but Violet could only see her pressing the barrel of the gun against the top of his head. 

The gunshot was louder than any Violet had ever heard. It seemed like it bounced off every tree in the forest and came back at them. It rang for at least fifteen seconds after the shot was fired. 

Violet watched Clementine lower Gabe’s body out of her lap, revealing even more blood that had pooled around them - stained her clothes and skin. She stared at the gun in her hand, her eyes unfocused and empty. 

Standing up, Violet walked over to Clem and knelt down beside her. She took the gun with no resistance and sat it on the ground. 

“Lou,” Violet called out, startling everyone. “Can you take Aasim and go to the caravan? They...they need to know what happened.” He nodded, clearly shaken. They all were - how could they not be?

“We should move the body,” AJ said, moving towards them. “We can’t just leave it out here.” 

Violet nodded. “Omar, can you and Ruby.”

“We’re on it,” Ruby answered quickly and Violet turned her attention back to Clementine. 

“I’m okay,” Clem said, but her shaky voice said otherwise. She looked awful. 

“I know, but I’m gonna take you inside and clean you up anyway, okay?”  Clementine nodded. “Good. AJ, wanna help me get her up?”

He didn’t hesitate.  

\--------------------------

The more time Violet spent with Clementine, the more she realized how soft she really was. Seeing her now, sitting in an oversized t-shirt Violet had taken from her own closet, with her hair wet from being washed, she looked so much more like the kid she truly was and not someone who’d been through hell countless times. 

At this point, Violet just wanted Clementine to be able to rest a little. 

Setting down a bucket of water, Violet dipped an old rag deep in to let it soak. As she rung it out, Clementine was watching her. She looked exhausted. 

“Javi’s going to be heartbroken.” 

Violet wished she knew these people better - at least good enough that she could relate a little to Clementine’s pain. “It sucks,” was all she could say. It sucked, this whole fucking world sucked. “‘I’m gonna clean you up a bit, okay? We got it all out of your hair but it’s on your neck and arms and stuff.” Clementine shut her eyes. 

Carefully, Violet dabbed the wet rag against Clementine’s neck and down her collarbone. The blood came off easily enough, only running a little. She dipped the rag again, rang it out and starting the whole process over. 

If the circumstances were different, like insanely fucking different, this moment might actually be kind of intimate. 

Clementine took a deep breath and shook her head, Violet could tell her mind was still racing. “We need more weapons.” She said, almost to herself. “We need...more. The Delta are gone but there’s always walkers and the next people who show up might not be old friends of mine. We need more stuff.” 

“Okay,” Violet ran the rag up Clementine’s forearm, turning it over to clean her wrist and hands. “We’ll start making runs outside the safe zone. Like that old train station had stuff, there’s gotta be more like that around this area.” 

“Yeah,” Clem sighed. “It’s so fucking dangerous, Vi. I-I can’t force anyone to go.” 

“Hey,” Violet grabbed Clementine’s hand, squeezing it reassuringly. “You don’t  _ force _ us to do anything. If you did, you know I’d tell you.” Clem smiled. It wasn’t much, but Violet would take it. “We’ll figure it out. We’ll be careful and we’ll make it work.” 

Despite missing a foot, Clementine was still unquestionably everyone’s leader. If there were any doubts, what happened out there proved that point entirely. Not one of them would have been able to do what she did. As much as Violet hated to admit it, Clem was their leader not only for her survival skills, but for her willingness to do take care of  _ everything _ . Not just the good things, like finding food and planning a schedule, but the hard, brutal things that came with this world. 

Violet was trying so hard to be able to help Clementine carry that burden, but sometimes it was too hard for her. Some of the shit they’d gone through, the disgusting fucking things she’d seen, Violet wasn’t strong enough yet. 

But Clementine was - she always had been. 

“I had a friend once, Luke. I remember him saying that...you spend so much time trying to stay alive that...you don’t get the chance to enjoy living. Finding this place, a home, that was all I wanted for so long. For myself and especially for AJ. When you guys pulled us out of that car and brought us here, even after all the bullshit with Marlon, it felt like a home. I...I loved it here. You and Louis and everyone...made me happy. Then everything happened with Lilly and I fought like hell so I could feel that way again. We won the fight, you know? But...I still don’t feel happy.” 

_ Luke _

There were so many names from Clementine’s past. 

“We still can. We can work on being happy. We do...still kinda have each other, you know?” 

“Yeah,” she smiled again, this time it was a little brighter. “This is all going to suck with Javi and everything with Gabe it’s...devastating, but I want to feel what I felt that night on the bell tower. I want...like…” Clementine was honest to god blushing and VIolet couldn’t fucking stand how adorable it was. “A date...after all this shit settles down.” 

Violet smirked. “You want to climb on my back and let me drag you to the top of the bell tower?” 

“So we can fall and both end up on crutches? No thanks.” 

“You just wait, I’m gonna come up with a perfect fucking date and blow your goddamn socks off.”

  
Clementine grinned, “ _ sock _ .” She said and Violet frowned. “Cause I only have one foot.”


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you again for reading and for the feedback and kudos and all that. As always, it means so much to read what you guys think and know you're enjoying the story.

“Thank you, Clem - for everything.” 

It was strange that Javi was thanking her. She understood why, but the reality was that Clementine didn’t really feel like she’d done anything. 

Six days had passed since Gabe died in her arms just outside of Texas Two. The hardest part was seeing Javi’s face when he showed up to see the body. He looked so empty and broken, a feeling Clementine was all too familiar with. 

The whole situation haunted her more than she would like. She and Gabe had been...something once. Something short and sweet, nothing that really mattered much when he showed back up in her life again. She was sad he was gone, and heartbroken she had to shoot him, but she didn’t feel pain for him - just the heartbreak of what he left behind. 

“You’re welcome, and...if you guys need anything - you know where to find me.” 

Javier smiled, though it still looked like he was forcing it. “A couple of our people said they saw an abandoned settlement about five miles south of the river. Places like that are goldmines for supplies.”

He was absolutely right. “Walkers?” 

“Yeah, said there were about a dozen of them, maybe more. Not enough to overwhelm us though. If...if you and your group want to help with the retrieval we’d be happy to split the salvage.” 

They hadn’t made any real supply runs, outside of hunting, since the situation with the Delta. The truth was, they were running low on just about everything. 

“Sure, give us a few days to sort some things out, we’ll come find you when we’re ready to go.” 

“Okay, we’ll be out there.” 

“Take care, Javi,” she gave him a small wave before watching him walk through the forest. 

When she turned back to go inside, she saw Violet leaning against the frame of the entrance watching her. 

“You’re getting good with those.” She gestured at the crutches and Clementine shrugged. 

She still hated them. “Give me enough time and I’ll figure out how to smack down a walker with one while balancing myself with the other.”

Violet laughed. “I don’t doubt it, but if you break one on a walker head, Willy will never forgive you.” 

“We wouldn’t want that,” Clementine moved up alongside Violet and the two of them made their way inside. “So, are we still on for tonight?” 

“Did you actually come up with anything to do?” 

Clementine sighed. “Not really. I  _ borrowed _ Louis’ playing cards.”

“Oh,” Violet glanced over at her, a mischievous smirk on her face. “Strip poker?” 

“Wh--” Clementine lost her balance, nearly falling face first into the ground. She was able to catch herself, with a little help from VIolet, but certainly not enough to hide the embarrassment. 

“Jesus, Clem - I was kidding.” Violet was struggling to control her laughter. “I don’t even know how to play poker.” At least in her embarrassment she’d made Violet laugh. “I talked to Louis and Aasim and they’re taking my shift tonight.”

“Why both?” Clementine asked as she climbed up the the first two stairs before turning around to take a seat on one of them. 

Violet, of course, sat down right beside her. “According to Louis, it takes two of them to make up for one of us - but I think Louis just wants Aasim around so he can bug him about using paper from Aasim’s big ass book.” 

“I wish we could find Louis a better way to communicate.” Clementine had a lot of wishes when it came to Louis and how he ended up. A lot of regrets and angst that she felt every time she saw him. 

“He does okay, I wish we could help him get more sleep.”

“He’s not sleeping?” 

Violet shook her head. “Not great, nightmares and shit. Who knows what it was like in that cell for him.” 

Clementine had no idea Louis wasn’t sleeping. She’d been so wrapped up in her own misery that she hadn’t even paid attention to what he might be going through. It made sense, trauma like that didn’t just go away. Even if he acted okay, of course he’d still be dealing with it. 

Just like she was. 

“Maybe I should -” 

“Clem,” Violet put a hand on Clementine’s shoulder as she started to stand up. “He’s fine for tonight, besides - we both took the night off for a reason, didn’t we?” 

Sitting back down, Clementine grabbed Violet’s hand and smiled. “Yeah, though I still haven’t really come up with anything fun or like...date worthy. I’ve never been on a date before.” 

“Eh, we’ll figure it out. It’s not like we can go see a movie or go bowling or anything.” 

Clementine frowned. “Is that what people used to do on dates?” 

“Pretty much, that and makeout in their cars and stuff. At least, that’s what I remember from the movies I saw.” 

“I wasn’t allowed to watch stuff like that. My dad would always try and get me into these shows about science and nature and stuff - it was kinda boring. I think that’s why I just read books instead.” 

Clementine still remembered the day her parents gave her that little white bookcase. She was so happy - she spent three hours organizing and reorganizing her books until they were exactly how she wanted them. 

She’d stay up all night reading, or as late as she could before her parents knocked on her door and told her to go to sleep. 

“Did you read any of the books I found? Were they any good? I really didn’t know what to look for.” 

“They’re fine,” Clementine smiled.  _ Any  _ book is good compared to no book at all. “The one I started is about a car possessed by a demon. It’s kinda scary but we’re surrounded by monsters every day so I think I could handle a crazy car.”

“Any car driven by you might as well be possessed.” 

“Okay,” Clementine glared at her, trying not to laugh. “First of all, you only ever saw me on my worst driving day. I’m actually a pretty great driver and nobody can tell you otherwise cause there was never anyone on the road with me. Second of all, if we ever find a car, I’m teaching  _ you _ how to drive.” 

Violet shook her head, hair bouncing from side to side. “No thanks. World’s dangerous enough without anyone else learning your driving ‘skills’.” 

“Ass,” Clementine bumped into Violet with her shoulder before a quiet fell between them.  The sun was starting to set, casting a dark shade over the courtyard. Soon enough Ruby and Omar would start building the fires for light and cooking, AJ was on dish duty with Louis tonight so they would be setting up for dinner and cleaning up afterwards.

Everyone knew tonight was their date night. Violet had made sure of that - going around and asking everyone to help out a little more. It was little things like that that really stood out to Clementine when it came to Violet. From what she’d gathered, Violet was not an outgoing person before Clementine showed up. In fact, the way Minnie told it, Violet was about as introverted as you could possibly be. 

Yet, for some reason, she just  _ did _ things for Clementine. A lot of people gave Clementine the credit for Violet’s change in personality - for her ability to speak up and be a leader. Clementine never really saw herself having much impact in that. All she did was believe in her and Violet did the rest. She was strong like that. Clementine noticed it the first time they really spoke, that night in her room. 

Violet was a survivor, just like Clementine and that connection was what drew them together from the beginning.

“Oh!” Violet jumped up, she really could move fast when she wanted to. “I - I have an idea.” 

“Oh-kay…” 

“Just…” Clementine could see the gears working in Violet’s head. “Just sit tight. I’ll be right back.” 

Leaning back, Clementine rested her elbows on the steps. “I’m not going anywhere.” She soaked in Violet’s smile before watching her girlfriend race off.

The courtyard was busy. Aasim and Ruby were working on a fire while Omar was setting up to cook dinner. They were running a little low on food. The last few hunting trips had been light and the stuff they’d recovered from the train station was starting to run low. 

Whatever Javi and his people had found might be just what they needed - but trips like that were so dangerous. 

“Okay,” Violet came back as quick as promised, but she came back pushing a wheelbarrow. 

Not just any wheelbarrow. 

“Uh…”

“I know,” she winced. “I  _ know _ , but hear me out. We want to have a date right?” Clementine nodded cautiously. “There’s no privacy here - not really. It’s...it’s early enough that if we leave right now, we can make it to the shack where we fish just as the sun goes down.” 

Clementine was even more confused. “You want to go to the shack and...spend the night there?” Violet seemed disappointed by Clementine’s lack of excitement - which kind of broke Clementine’s heart. “Vi, there’s nothing I’d rather do that be alone with you but...you came over here with... _ that _ and I think I know what you’re thinking and it’s insane.” 

“It’s not that far.” 

“You’ll be exhausted by the time we get there!” 

“I won’t! I’m fucking tough, Clem. I can do this.” 

It was clear that Violet  _ really _ wanted to do this. The shack was safe - the river protected them from one side and walkers were easy to hear coming from the other. They hadn’t seen anyone near that place and it wasn’t too far away from the school. 

Still, Violet dragging her out there just seemed so difficult. 

“Are you sure?” 

Violet nodded. “It was my idea, of course I’m sure.” She sat the wheelbarrow down and came up to Clementine. She put her hands on Clementine’s knees and knelt down between her legs. Their faces now inches apart. “We’ll be okay. Just one night, you and me - away from everything. I just want one night where we can pretend we’re not in the middle of all this.” 

It was hard to argue when Violet was this close to her, smiling like she was - looking at her like  _ that _ . 

She couldn’t say no. 

“Okay, but I can walk.”

“Clem…”

“I can! At least a little bit. If I get tired then I’ll get in the damn wheelbarow, but at least let me do a little bit. Our night won’t be fun if you’re exhausted from pushing me through the fucking forest.” 

Violet kissed her quickly. “Deal, I’m gonna go tell Aasim and Ruby what we’re doing, you get ready and we’ll meet back here.” She stood up and started walking towards Ruby and Aasim’s fire. “Best night ever!” She shouted back and Clementine couldn’t stop herself from smiling. 

\------------------------------

Clementine sat on the dirty bed in the old shack, watching Violet light candles all around them. It was shockingly dark in this place at night, surrounded by so many trees that it even blocked a good amount of the moonlight. 

The candles certainly offered an interesting mood, it felt very intimate. Clementine wasn’t even sure what that entailed but she  _ was _ sitting on a bed watching her girlfriend light candles and they’d be spending the night together. 

She knew enough to know how that probably sounded to the rest of the kids when they told them what they were doing. 

“Christ, it’s still dark as hell in here.” Violet finished lighting the last candle before making her way back to the bed. “You good? You hardly let me use the wheelbarrow."

“I’m fine,” she gave her best smile. She was fine - a little tired but nothing she couldn’t handle. 

“So damn stubborn.” She said as she sat down next to Clementine. “Ground rules.”

“Ground rules?” 

Violet nodded. “Yes, I’m giving our date night ground rules. They’re fucking important.” 

“Violet, talking about the importance of rules. You do realize Texas Two used to be a school for  _ troubled  _ youth, right? Troubled usually means  _ ignoring _ rules.” 

“What can I say,” Clementine couldn’t help but notice how much the candlelight made Violet’s eyes shine. “The queen of rules is rubbing off on me.” 

“Queen of rules?” 

There was mischief in Violet’s eyes. “You have a lot of rules, Clem. AJ’s told me about them.” 

“Oh really?” 

“Yep, he wanted to make sure I knew them cause I was important and needed to know.” 

It wasn’t until this moment that Clementine realized how much it mattered that AJ liked the person she chose to be with. He was the most important thing in her life, so if she was going to find someone to share that life with, AJ had to be okay with it. 

Knowing that he was lifted a weight off her shoulders she didn’t even know was there. “First rule?”

“Never go alone.” 

Clementine knew she was grinning like an idiot. “You’re a fast learner.” Violet shrugged as if that were obvious.  “So...this mattress...anything  _ gross _ happen here?” 

Violet gave her a long look, eyes narrow, lips pursed - curious. “Define gross.” 

“You know,” Clementine really didn’t want to say it, but she couldn’t help herself. “A bunch of teenagers, no adults - a small shack in the middle of nowhere.”

“Clem, are you asking me if anyone has fucked on this mattress?” 

The word made Clementine wince, which felt stupid cause she’d said that word before hundreds of times, but never in  _ that _ context.

“You know what, never mind. I don’t want to know.” She  _ really _ didn’t. 

Unfortunately, Violet wasn’t the kind of person to let these things go. “I can tell you that  _ I  _ haven’t fucked on this mattress.” 

“Oh god, okay...stop,  _ please _ .” 

Violet smirked. “You asked!” 

“Well I regret it!’ Clementine covered her face for good measure. “So what are we going to do? The sun just barely went down.” 

“Tell you what,” Violet reached into the back pocket of her jeans and pulled out Louis’ playing cards. “Let’s play Lou’s game. High card gets to ask the loser a question.” Despite not trying to, Clementine must have made some kind of face. “You think it’s a shit idea?” 

“What? No, it’s fine.” 

Violet rolled her eyes. “Your face says otherwise. I don’t think you realize how expressive your eyebrows are. Don’t get me wrong, they’re fucking amazing, but they give you away big time.”  Clementine was going to try her best to ignore Violet calling her eyebrows  _ amazing _ . 

“It’s a fine idea, Vi, but...how about we mix it up?” She seemed to have Violet’s curiosity. “No serious questions. Just...fun stuff. Dates are supposed to be fun, right? The night shouldn’t end with us crying in each other’s arms.” 

“That was actually going to be one of my ground rules,” Violet started to shuffle the cards. “It can end with us in each other’s arms though, right? I’d hate to make you sleep on the floor.” 

Clementine laughed. “You’d really put the girl with one foot on the floor?” 

With a smile that made Clementine forget they were in a shack in the middle of the woods, Violet kissed her cheek while handing over a stack of cards. 

“Alright, we draw, winner asks a question. No mushy shit, no sad shit.” 

At the count of three, they both turned their top cards over. Clementine had a four of hearts, Violet had the ace of spades. 

“Ha! First turn.” She pumped her fist for good measure. She could be so fucking cute sometimes. “Was I your first kiss?” She asked, with an aggravatingly knowing smile on her face.  

This, of course, made Clementine worry. “I uh...yeah...could you tell? Was it bad?” 

“Hell no,” Violet laughed. “You went all in and it was great, but your hands were on my shoulders and you were kinda shaky. I could tell you were nervous.” 

Clementine knew she was blushing. “I didn’t know how long to hold it or how I should turn. I just closed my eyes and hoped I didn’t crack our heads together. Not to mention we were about to sneak aboard a boat full of kidnapping psychopaths.” 

“Well, you nailed it. For future reference though,” suddenly, Violet was kissing her and Clementine made some kind of noise that was lost against Violet’s lips. They held together, lips moving softly. Violet pressed her hand against Clementine’s back and pulled  her a little closer. She drew back, barely an inch before diving in again with even more intensity. This time, when Clementine made a noise, Violet hummed with satisfaction. Clementine knew she was shaking again. “That,” Violet started as she pulled away, her lips red and her own cheeks flushed. “That is how long you hold a really good kiss.” 

“Wow, uh…” Clementine’s mouth felt dry, her hands still shaking. “I’ll remember that.” 

Violet took a deep breath. “Good, now uh...let’s draw again.”

Once again, Violet drew the high card. “You’re cheating!” 

“Clem, it’s the simplest game in the world. How the fuck am I cheating?” 

“Just ask your question.” Clementine glared, or tried to, but it was hard when Violet looked like so damn proud of herself. 

“Alright, fine.” Violet could be so much fun when she let her guard down. “Grossest walker you’ve ever seen?” 

The question was so broad. In a way, they were all gross - but the more time passed, the more and more rotted they became. Still, she had an answer to this question. One that would probably never be beaten. 

“I was scavenging an abandoned gas station once and just...checking everywhere I could. It was summer and it was really hot. I probably should have known better but there was this big ice container outside and I thought there might be something in there. Not ice, but people store shit in big boxes all the time. Like they think they can just leave it there and then come back and get it later. Might as well since there’s hardly anyone left in the world.” Clementine wondered if Violet really understood how empty the world outside of this place was. There were so few people left. “Anyway, I open it up and I swear the smell hit me so hard I started throwing up. It was awful - by far the worst thing I’ve ever come across. There was a walker in there that had melted from being in the sun for so long. It was still alive though, just like...sticking to the sides of the box. The smell was so bad I couldn’t even get close enough to kill it. Just closed the lid and ran.” 

The longer her story went, the paler Violet became. By the time she was finished, Violet looked like  _ she _ was about to throw up. 

“I fucking swear, Clem - it’s like you have an insane story for  _ everything _ . Melted walker, eating a guys leg, stitching your own arm in a shed with fishing line.”

“I didn’t actually eat a guys leg. I just...almost did. It was on the fork and hovering over my tongue, but it didn’t get  _ in _ there, you know?”

Violet sighed. “No, Clem. I don’t know. I’ve never had human meat  _ hovering _ over my tongue.” 

Clementine rolled her eyes. “You’re as dramatic as Louis sometimes. Draw again.” 

They nearly went through the entire deck playing. The questions were never too serious and if they started to turn that way they’d make sure to go back. It was one of the best nights Clementine could ever remember. She hadn’t laughed this much in years.  

Eventually, the cards ran out and the night turned. The candles were almost out and Clementine found herself lying on her back with Violet above her, kissing the hell out of her. 

She was breathless, but not about to stop and ask for oxygen. Suffocation was a small price to pay to keep feeling Violet’s soft lips against her own. The way Violet would pull back, just to look into her eyes every now and then, made Clementine feel adored. She tried to do the same, to find some gesture to let Violet know she felt the same way. All she wanted to do was show how much this night meant to her - after everything. Seven years of pain and misery had led her here. 

Eventually, Violet relented a little and gave Clementine a chance to catch her breath. She felt hot, her face on fire and her skin tingling - every place Violet touched seemed to burn. 

“We should probably slow down, huh?” Violet asked, holding herself up with hands on either side of Clementine. 

She looked so beautiful, with hair falling over her face and those green eyes shining. Clementine reached up and tucked a strand away behind her ear. “Probably,” she leaned up to get in one more kiss. “I’d say my first makeout session was a success.” 

Violet smiled as she laid down next to Clementine. “Good,” she took Clementine’s hand into her own. “This night was...shit, it’s what we’re still alive for, you know?” 

They’d made promises to each other all night not to get too serious or mushy, but in the cover of darkness, Clementine felt like she could say anything. 

“I love you, Violet. So much.” 

“I love you, too, Clem.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's only one chapters left of this. I had considered more, but it felt like I was just extending it for the sake of extending it and I didn't want to do that with this. So in the future, there might be more Clem/Violet from me, but it'll be something different. I want this story to be nice and tidy - just a little extension to Vi and Clem's story from the game.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading and following and supporting. This fic was cathartic and something I needed to do after seven years of emotional investment in this series.

“So, how’s she doin’?” 

Shaking her head, Violet stuck her hands into the dirt and dug out a hole for the next plant Ruby was holding. “She’s pretty pissed.” 

“Makes sense,” Ruby handed Violet the plant and pointed out exactly where she needed to put it. The greenhouse was starting to come together thanks to Ruby’s endless hard work. Not to mention that she had Aasim following her around like a puppy. 

Violet could relate, she knew what it was like to be head over fucking heels. “She’s mad but she gets it, you know? She knows she fucked up going out on her own and she knows she’s not ready. I think she’s just scared.” 

“Then she’ll know how I feel. I don’t go on runs or hunt with ya’ll. I stay here and wait - it’s awful.” 

Looking up at Ruby, Violet felt a weird guilt settle over her. “I--I’m sorry, Ruby. I didn’t know you had any interest in going out on hunts.”

She laughed. “I don’t. I’m not sayin’ I’m angry that I don’t get to go, I’m just sayin’ that I know how it feels to worry. So many times Marlon would send folks out to do stuff and less people’d come back than left and it was hard. It’s still hard now - specially since there’s so few of us left.” 

It wasn’t often Violet let herself be left behind. Certainly not after the twins were lost. 

That’s why she had to always come back now. She couldn’t do that to Clementine - couldn’t put Clem through that pain. If there was any other choice, she’d stay behind with her - but they had so few able bodies left and Violet could relay Clem’s wishes to Javier and the others better than anyone. 

She had to be the leader in places where Clem couldn’t. 

“Here,” Ruby reached in where Violet was digging and held some of the dirt aside. It was being a crumbly pain in the ass. “How’s she likin’ Willy’s foot thing he made for her?” 

Violet smiled. “She loves it.” She’d never seen anyone as embarrassed as Willy was when Clementine hugged him and thanked him over and over again. “It helps her get around without the crutches and she can do more around here - but it’s not nearly sturdy enough to run on. Scares the hell out of me when she takes her first step in it every morning.” 

“So she’s stuck with me.” Ruby had a laugh in her throat. “I’ll keep her busy. She’s enjoyed helpin’ in the greenhouse and I keep seein’ her hoverin’ around Omar when he’s cookin’. She seems the type who just wants to help’.” 

“She is,” Violet couldn’t stop the adoration in her voice. Clementine just wanted to take care of people. She’d taken care of all of them more than she could ever know - but to her, it never felt like enough. “What?” She asked when she noticed Ruby was staring at her with a goofy grin on her face. 

“You’re all goo goo eyed.” 

Violet scoffed so dramatically even she felt ashamed at the overcompensation. “I am not. I’m focused on the work, Ruby.”

“Uh huh,” Ruby bumped Violet with her hip. “What time are ya’ll leavin’ tomorrow?” 

Violet groaned. “Early. Louis wants to go before daylight and, according to Clem, Javier and his people will be ready then too.” 

“Damn, well thank goodness Clem isn’t goin’ since she ain’t really an early riser.”

“You say that like she won’t be walking us right to the gate giving instructions.” 

Ruby let out a hearty laugh. “True.” Once the last plant was put in place, Violet and Ruby studied their work. These were more spices - they really had done wonders for the food and certainly made Omar happy. “So...what do you make of these caravan folks?”

“Uhm...they’re okay, I guess. Clem seems to trust Javi. That whole thing with the boy...Gabe...I think that kinda slowed things down. Clem said Javi’s really struggling with it.” 

“Makes sense, losin’ people is tough.” Ruby took her gloves off and sat them on the planter. Violet did the same. “C’mon. Let’s go get some lunch and see that if that girl of yours has driven Aasim nuts yet. She’s tryin’ to teach him how to shoot.”

\-------------------------

Nights like this were always the quietest. In a world where you could, quite literally, die at any moment, a night when you knew the next day would bring even more danger was a hard night to struggle through. 

Instead of the normal conversation and laughter that filled the evening - all you could hear was the clanking of spoons against bowls and the crackle of fire in the background. 

Growing up with a drunk for a father, Violet had learned how to read body language. She remembered his moods when he was drunk and how they would vary. Sometimes, he’d tease her, thinking they were having fun when he joked about how skinny she was and how she slouched when she sat. 

When he’d laugh at how she never seemed to have any friends over. 

Sometimes he’d be distant, like he didn’t even notice or care that she was in the room. Those were the good days, if there was such a thing, because at least then she could do her own thing. 

Then there were the days when he hated her. The more and more her parents marriage fell apart, the more those days seemed to come around. 

He’d tell her how happy they were before she showed up. He’d talk to her about all the fun things he and her mother would do together that they couldn’t anymore because her mom had to work more. 

Because of her. 

“Hey,” she felt something touch her cheek. 

Clementine was right next to her, a smile on her face as she ran a thumb across Violet’s skin. 

“Hey,” she said back, trying to find her smile. 

“You were frowning. A little more than usual.” 

She hated how good Clementine was at reading her. It was frustrating because Violet felt like she used so much energy trying to stay in Clementine’s head and figure out what she was thinking. Clem was like a goddamn puzzle sometimes. Just when VIolet thought she had something figured out, Clem would wake up the next morning and be completely different. 

For Clementine though, it felt like she knew what Violet was thinking before Violet even fully understood what she was thinking. 

“Just in my head a little. You know how much I  _ love _ strangers.” 

Clem let out a breathy laugh. “Javi’s cool - can’t say about who he’s bringing, but you’ll have Louis and AJ.”

A sudden tapping on the table drew their attention. Violet saw Louis pressing a note down in front of her. She glanced at him, he was wearing that goofy smile of his. She took the note and unfolded it, holding it so she and Clementine could see. 

_ Just let me do all the talking _

Her heart stung at the joke, but when she looked up Louis just winked at her and smiled even more. 

She couldn’t help but smile back. “Fine, be sure to bring a shit load of these little pieces of paper, okay?” 

He winked at her with a proud look on his face. 

“Okay,” Violet was done with all this sadness. She wasn’t dead yet, none of them were. She reached into her jacket and pulled out Louis’ playing cards. “Who’s up for a game?” 

Louis looked at Violet like she’d stolen something from him. Which she absolutely had. He reached into his own pockets, searching for the cards and came out empty handed. 

“Don’t...be totally mad at her,” Clem said, guilt on her face. “It was kinda my idea, too.” He gave Clementine an even more upsetting look. “I’m sorry! We needed fun date stuff to do!” 

Rolling his eyes, Louis sat down and held out his hand expectantly. Violet stared at him for a moment, just wanting to push him a little bit more. When his hand shook impatiently, she finally gave him the cards. 

“You’re such a baby,” she teased, watching him shuffle through the cards like they might have stolen the seven of hearts or something. “They’re all fucking there, Lou.” 

“Who wants to play?” Clementine asked and the other tables turned to look at them. 

Ruby and Aasim shared a look and even though Ruby didn’t seem all that interested, Aasim gestured towards the table and she rolled her eyes before following him over. 

Violet nodded. “Good, Lou you have enough paper?”

He reached into his jacket, which apparently had endless room for shit, and pulled out two large sheets of mostly untouched paper. They looked like pages torn from the beginning of a book.

“I wanna play!” AJ was suddenly at Violet’s side, making her jump. Damn kid was too sneaky for his own good. 

“All right, guess we’re keeping this one PG tonight.” 

He frowned. “What does that mean?” 

“It means they’re not gonna talk about gross adult stuff.” Willy said as he sat down right next to Clementine, his shoulder bumping into her. 

She took it in stride though, pushing her shoulder back against him. “I think you’re the one we have to watch out for with gross stuff.”

He winced. “Violet already told me not to talk about that shit anymore, all right? I won’t!” 

“Omar?” Violet called out, already knowing the answer. 

“No thanks. Someone has to keep watch.” He said as he moved to the lookout point and started to climb. 

“He never plays.” AJ watched him longer than the others. 

“Don’t worry bout it, hon. It’s just not his thing. Omar likes to keep to himself most of the time. He’d rather be up there than over here with us. He’s perfectly content.” 

AJ watched Omar all the way to the tower.. “Okay. What are we playing?” 

Clementine looked at Louis. “That’s a good question.” He was already handing out cards, a stack to each person. 

“Looks like war,” Violet said and Louis pointed at her while touching his nose. “How about this, high card asks a question, it’s open to anyone who wants to answer.” Louis nodded with a smile on his face. She’d known him long enough to know what he played these games for. He just liked to get people to either open up or embarass themselves. It only worked because he wasn’t afraid to be on the receiving end of it. 

“First draw then,” Ruby said and everyone flipped their top card over. 

Violet pulled a ten of spades and groaned. If it wasn’t a face card, it wasn’t going to cut it with this many players. 

“Ace! That...that’s good right?” AJ looked at his card and then up at everyone else. 

“You got the high card, kiddo.” Clementine smiled and Violet had to resist the urge to make some kind of obnoxious ‘aw’ sound at his celebrational fist pump. “Okay so uh…” he was suddenly nervous. VIolet couldn’t blame him, everyone was staring and waiting. Kid could stand face to face with a psychotic militia leader and promise to kill her, but this was true pressure. “First kill?” He finally asked with at least a little bit of confidence. 

Unfortunately, his question was more grim than he probably intended. 

“AJ,” Clem shook her head and he looked guilty.

“Bad?” 

She sighed. “They - I don’t think any of them have killed a person before.” Clementine looked around the table and everyone shook their head. They’d lost friends on runs, found them in the woods after they’d turned and put them down - but never anyone still alive. 

“Sorry,” AJ’s head fell and Violet felt a powerfully protective urge run through her like some kind of shot of adrenaline. 

“You can try again, buddy.” She offered but he shrugged.

“I will if I win again. I asked my question.” 

“I mean, I can answer.” Clementine stared at the table, her fingers tracing over the designs on the worn out wood. “A man kidnapped me when I was nine and...my friend Lee found me. The man was going to kill him take me forever, but Lee and I stopped him. Lee was...he was bitten and dying and not strong enough to fight the man off. So when they were fighting, the gun fell and I took it and I shot him.” Clementine spoke just loud enough that everyone at the table could hear. It didn’t sound like a great memory. Violet wasn’t sure Clementine had many of those before coming here. “So...yeah. If you’re every talking to a stranger on a walkie talkie and he tells you your parents are alive, don’t believe him.” 

It was quiet for a moment and Violet once again had to fight the urge to leap across the table and comfort someone she loved. Clementine and AJ were totally ruining her careless loner vibe. 

Fortunately and surprisingly, Ruby put an arm around Clementine and hugged her. “So you’ve always been brave, huh?” She said with a laugh in her throat. 

“Brave and a badass.” Aasim added. “I still suck at shooting guns and you were doing it at nine?” 

“Hey, I’m not six yet and I do it!”

This made everyone laugh and Violet felt the tension lift. She even saw Clementine relax a bit into Ruby’s hug,

“Okay, round two.” Violet lifted another card and flipped it over. Queen of clubs, fuck yes. She looked up and studied the others. She had everyone beat, except. “Fucking Louis.” She rolled her eyes when he winked at her and dramatically pulled the pencil out of his ear and started writing. “Clem, that’s two threes in a row.”

Clementine groaned. “I suck at these games.” 

“You’re just unlucky.” Violet teased and Clementine gave her the finger, making them both laugh. “Don’t worry, Clem. I’ll help you turn your luck around.” 

Clementine blushed and Violet realized what she’d said and remembered that  _ everyone _ was sitting around them. She saw Ruby’s eyes widen and Aasim try to cough through a laugh. 

“Louis, are you done?” Clementine kicked at him under the table and he stuck up a finger to silence her. 

He picked up the card and handed it to Clem. 

“Alright, what’s your favorite…” she stopped and looked up from the card at Louis, her eyes narrowing. “Really?” He pointed at the card and then at Clementine. “What’s your favorite Louis moment?” 

Everyone groaned. 

“Not this,” Someone said, Violet thought it might have been her.

“I’ve got one,” Amidst the groans of disapproval, Aasim spoke up and everyone was surprised. He shifted a bit in his spot, Ruby smiling in his direction as he spoke. “When we were on that boat with the Delta - one of the guards kept picking on me and Omar. Trying to get us to fight back. Louis...he just started talking shit and getting on the guys nerves. He left us alone to go after Louis instead. The whole time we were up there, Louis kept taking all the heat and protecting us.”

Violet felt her heart swell, she  _ always _ knew Louis had that in him. She knew he cared, even if he tried to pretend he didn’t. 

Unfortunately, he didn’t seem as thrilled with the answer as everyone else and started writing furiously. When he finished, he crumpled up the paper and threw it at Aasim, hitting him in the chest. 

Aasim unfolded the tiny ball of paper and read it, everyone watching and waiting. Eventually, he just started laughing and then showed it to Ruby who did the same. 

“You take compliments about as well as Vi does, Louis.” 

This earned Aasim a middle finger and Violet could relate. 

“Aww, Vi’s getting better with it though, aren’t you, my love.” Clementine’s haphazard use of that stupid fucking nickname she was trying to make a thing that would  _ never _ be a thing made Violet’s entire face go hot. 

Everyone else at the table started awwing at the two of them. 

“ _ Clem _ .” Violet knew better than to ever trust Clem in public. “You better find one of these benches to sleep on tonight because after that…” 

Clementine only laughed at her, because Clementine knew Violet was weak and in love and that the girl she used to be died months ago in a mess of stargazing and soft words atop a belltower. 

Damn it all if Violet wasn’t somehow happier now, then she ever was before the world ended.

**Author's Note:**

> Thoughts?


End file.
